Skylanders: Heroes
by PyroPhantom98
Summary: Taking place after the events of Skylanders: SWAP Force, a mysterious new threat has revealed itself that puts the fate of Skylands and Earth in the balance. Eon has sent the Skylanders to assemble a new team of heroes from Earth to save the world. Who are they? Will they be ready in time? Find out in this thrilling new adventure. Contains violence and some language.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

It was midnight at Eon's Castle as Hugo and Cali stood in front of the Core of Light, awaiting Flynn to return from the Cloudbreak Islands. "Mount Cloudbreak has restored the magic in Skylands once more," exclaimed a joyful Hugo, "Isn't this amazing Cali?" Cali didn't respond, as she was too busy thinking about Flynn. "Sorry Hugo, my mind was on... something else..." Cali blushed for a brief second and then turned in Hugo's direction, asking the Mabu to repeat his question. Before Hugo could repeat his question, they were interrupted by Master Eon, who had a concerned look on his face. A concerned Cali noticed this and asked, "What's wrong Eon? D-Did something happen to Flynn?" "No my dear," said the wise Portal Master, "our friend Flynn is just fine and should be here first thing tomorrow morning. A dark force is what's been troubling me." A relieved Cali then said with confidence, "Don't worry, the Skylanders and the rest of us will take down that nasty Kaos like we always do!" "No Cali," said Eon, "it's not Kaos we have to worry about." A confused Hugo then replied, "So... What is it then Master Eon?" "I don't know Hugo, but I sense that whatever it is, it will be here soon and it will make that fool Kaos look like a pushover."

Spyro, who had been listening in on the conversation, swooped down from the sky and asked his old master, "What can we do to help?" "Spyro, I need you to take a small team of elite Skylanders and go to Earth. Once there, go to the small town of Drago Valley and locate the 'hosts'. They go by the names of: Clay, Mike, Yurei, Miles, Ricky, Wordsworth, Brad, and Sue. As well as a very pure one. His friends call him, Daniel. I need you to find these kids and prepare them for battle." The purple dragon nodded his head and smiled. "I won't let you down master," he exclaimed. Spyro turned around to see Gill Grunt, Trigger Happy, and Stealth Elf behind him. "Gather every other Skylander on this island guys. I'll meet you on Earth." Spyro then hopped onto a nearby Portal of Power and was teleported away. "It's time...," Spyro whispered to himself.


	2. Chapter 1 - Not Your Average Team

**Chapter 1 - Not Your Average Team**

"Hi... My name is Daniel and welcome to my home here in the town of Drago Valley, the most peaceful, quiet, and boring place on Earth. I'm about as shy and uncertain about things as you can get, but I **am** very social and a good team player. Speaking of which, meet my team. First off, there's my best friend Brad. He's an absolute genius. And when I say he's a genius, I **mean** the dude's a freaking genius. There is literally nothing the guy can't invent, repair and, in some cases, break. Next there's Miles, the type of friend you can always count on. He's a real nature lover and will often hang out in the woods to keep an eye on the woodland creatures. In fact, he spent an entire week in the LightCore Forest. I wonder why he likes going there occasionally. His best friend is our good pal, Wordsworth. He's probably the most positive, and annoying, guy in the entire world. If it weren't for the fact that the guy keeps pranking all of us to no end, he probably wouldn't be all that bad. For some reason though, he's always been interested in fire. Then there's Clay, a.k.a. the last hippie on the face of the Earth. He's just about as peaceful as peaceful can be. He always travels in a 1966 Volkswagen Kombi, collecting lost treasures and artifacts in the soils of the valley. He never sells them, he just keeps them for decoration as far as I know. In fact, he lives in that Kombi of his. Next on my list of friends is the mysterious emo, Yurei. He's literally a mystery because none of us know where the heck he lives. All we really know about the dude is that he likes to hang around graveyards and abandoned buildings. But I've known him for about a year now and he's really not so bad once you get to know him. Mike is our 'hunter', and he really enjoys the thrill of the hunt. Mike hunts for sportsmanship using his trusty bow and arrow, and likes to fire his shots into the air to surprise his prey. Miles actually made Mike sign a contract to keep the number of animals he kills at a minimum, as well as not allowing him to hunt in the LightCore forest. I know the guy is a nature lover, but come on. Next we have 'Mr. I'm So Cool, I Got No Time for You' himself, Ricky. He's the star of our high school football team, so obviously he's the most popular kid in town. He always speeds through town on his motorcycle and likes to chill by his mansion's pool. That's right, Rick is one rich son of a... Ouch! Stepped on a LEGO. Why are there LEGO pieces in the boy's bathroom?! And finally, my all time favorite person. The one... the only... Sue... She's the hottest girl I've ever laid eyes on. The sweetest soul in Drago Valley... She's the..."

"Mate you're gonna make do a liquid laugh," exclaimed Mike, "who the hell are you even talking to?" A slightly angered Daniel replied, "I was rehearsing my speech project on the story of my life for English class you ass." "Oh, it looked to me like you were talking to some kind of fourth wall audience," said Mike. Brad, who listened to the entire conversation butted in, "That was an okay speech Daniel, but I bet my Series 2 Trigger Happy that even Wordsworth will get a higher grade unless you can improve your speech. Speaking of which, where **is** Wordsworth?" "I saw him earlier with Rick and Miles, they were saying something about how there was going to be a new addition to the science lab," said Mike, "something about a mushroom cloud." Brad realized what this meant and muttered, "Oh... crap...," just as Wordsworth, Miles, and Ricky walked in the room. The trio of friends starting chanting, "10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...," as a loud explosion could be heard in the distance. A laughing Wordsworth looked at his friends and said, "Don't get mad, but we just blew up the science lab." "That'll teach Mr. Smith to give us a week of detention," said Ricky, "and all we did was egg his house last Halloween!"

Just then a teenage girl with long, purple hair burst through the door. "Will you guys hurry up? Hank Zimmerman has arrived and he's about to give his speech." "Uhhh... Sue... This is the boy's bathroom. You can't come in here," said Daniel. Sue smiled saying, "Sweetie, as long as I'm wearing men's boxers, I can come in here." A confused Brad replied to Sue's statement by saying, "I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that Sue." A ticked off looking Sue replied, "Don't make me hurt you Brad. Now all of you get out here, you're taking forever. Clay and Yurei are waiting for us in the auditorium." As Sue walked away she muttered to herself, "And they say **we're** always late."

As the group of friends left, Spyro and Eruptor peeked around the corner with Eruptor saying, "These are the kids who are gonna save us? We're doomed..." "Don't say that Eruptor, replied the purple dragon, "Eon says they're the new 'hosts' so they must be the heroes we need." Just then, Jet-Vac appeared next to his two Skylander comrades saying, "Training begins after school good chaps."


	3. Chapter 2 - The Speech

**Chapter 2 - The Speech**

The group of friends headed down the hallway and towards the auditorium, not knowing that they were secretly be followed by Spyro, Jet-Vac, and Stealth Elf. "Hey boys," said Sue, "I bet my electric guitar that I can beat all of you to the auditorium." Wordsworth laughed briefly before saying, "Sis, you might be able to beat all of us on foot, but Miles will give you the boot. The guy can run for... well... miles." A confident Sue raised an eyebrow and then looked down at Miles. "Challenge accepted," they both said staring each other in the eyes. The two briefly warmed up as Mike prepared to start the countdown. "Alright mates, this race is for all the marbles. And by that I mean one measly guitar." "You better watch it Mike," muttered Sue, "unless you want a swift kick in the-," Brad interrupted Sue before she could finish and started the countdown. "3... 2... 1... BOOM!" The two friends took off and sprinted down the hallway, with Miles outrunning Sue within less than half a second. "Wow, this kid is almost as fast as Magna Charge," whispered a surprised Stealth Elf. Right before Miles could make it to the auditorium, however, he literally ran into a person in the hallway. None other than Mr. Smith, the teacher who he, Ricky, and Wordsworth had made a fool of on several occassions. "Well... well... well... Look what we have here. It's Thing #1, Thing #2, and Thing #3, chuckled Mr. Smith. "I'm pretty sure there are only two things sir," said Brad. "Shut up Brad," said everyone except Daniel. Mr. Smith grabbed Miles by the wrist and said, "So first you, Moe, and Curly egg my house, then you blow up my precious science lab, and **now** you've drilled holes in the girl's locker room?!" "Wait," said Ricky with a confused face, "we never did that last one." Mr. Smith replied, "I know, but I know that's on your to-do list!" Mike stepped in and said,"First of all mate, you just made two references in a row. Second of all, could you get back to being lonely? We kinda have somewhere we need to be." "And besides," said Sue, "you're nothing but a common bully. You pick on others who have less power than you just for the hell of it." An even more angry Mr. Smith exclaimed, "You all better shut up or I'll have you **all** expelled from this high school! All of you will-," just then a powerful blast of wind struck Mr. Smith, breaking his grip on Miles and sending him flying into the janitor's closet. "Run lads," exclaimed someone with a Scottish accent. Without hesitation, all seven friends darted for the auditorium doors with Daniel yelling, "Thanks whoever you are!" And in the blink of an eye, the group of friends were out of sight. "Nice shootin' Jet-Vac," said an impressed Eruptor. Jet-Vac grinned and replied, "All in a day's work my friend. Hey Stealth Elf, think you can sneak in there and keep an eye on things?" Stealth Elf responded, "They don't call me Stealth Elf for nothing," before going out of sight.

The group entered the auditorium and found seats next to their friends Clay and Yurei, just as the principal ordered everyone to sit down and remain silent. "We were starting to think you weren't coming man," said Clay. "It's not like them not coming would make a difference," said Yurei with a blank face. "Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine," whispered Brad. "Good morning students and faculty of Ramses Academy," said the principal through his microphone, "I'm glad you all could join me today on this special occasion, because today we have a very special guest at our school. He's the greatest man of the decade and the founder of Petrichor, the #1 scientific company in the world. Put your hands together for the one, the only, Hank Zimmerman III!" As everyone started clapping, Wordsworth asked Brad, "Who is this guy? I don't recognize him with my little eye." Brad replied, "Mr. Zimmerman is only **the** greatest mind of the century, Wordsworth. He's basically the Einstein of our time." Wordsworth responded with, "Aw yes, and who was Einstein?" Brad didn't answer and simply did a facepalm.

"Yes, yes, thank you, good morning Ramses Academy," said Mr. Zimmerman through the mic, "it's truly an honor to be standing here today in front of you all. When I started Petrichor, I imagined a world with no problems, no pollution, no danger. My goal is to create a world with a brighter, better future. And who else can shape the future better than kids like you? That's why I will be allowing one of you to come down to Petrichor HQ this spring in Asemetro City to share your ideas on how we can help change the world for the better. Ranging from next-gen computers to creating new medicines to cure the ill and infected. If it's okay with you all, I will select a winner sometime after this event is over. Thank you all for coming and remember, as long as you think it, it's never impossible." Everyone gave a round of applause to Mr. Zimmerman as he stepped down from the stage and went out the doors of the auditorium.

One hour later, the auditorium finally cleared out and the school day concluded. Daniel and his friends walked out the front door and down the stairs, while Ricky grinded down one of the rails of the stairs with his skateboard. Ricky, not paying attention to where he was going, crashed into someone on his way down. Daniel and the others ran to Ricky's side to make sure he wasn't injured. Ricky had broken his left ankle, so Wordsworth and Clay carried him over to Clay's Kombi so they could take him to the emergency room. After the three friends drove away, Daniel ran over to the man Ricky had hit to make sure he was alright. To everyone's surprise, the man Ricky ran down was none other than Mr. Zimmerman. "Sorry about that Mr. Zimmerman," said Daniel with an embarassed look on his face. "It's okay Daniel," he replied. Everyone paused and stood speechless until Daniel asked the man, "You know who I am?" "Yes," said Hank, "you look just like your dad." The Skylanders, who had watched everything from the school roof stood speechless as well until Terrafin whispered to his friends, "It's about to get real."


	4. Chapter 3 - Shadows of the Past

**Chapter 3 - Shadows of the Past**

"Yes Daniel, I know who you are," said Hank, "I was a close friend of your father's." A highly confused Daniel replied, "I knew he worked for Petrichor, but I didn't know you two actually knew each other." "Yes, we actually knew each other since college. We were best friends back then, and even though we had our differences and petty rivalries every now and then, we were always there for each other in the end." Brad got suspicious and jumped in saying, "I've known Daniel for many years now Mr. Zimmerman and his father never mentioned you a single time. Care to explain that?" "Honestly, I have no idea," replied Hank, "I don't know how he could've **not** talked about me to anyone." Brad then gently plucked one of Hank's hairs before replying, "I'll be the judge of that." Brad then pulled a mysterious device out of his backpack and dropped the hair sample into it. "I call it the 'Snitch-a-Nator 9000'. It's like a polygraph, only it tells you if the person being questioned is being honest just by inserting a sample of the person's DNA rather than checking their pulse and breathing rates. In other words, it actually works. Now let's take a look at the results, shall we?" The group then stared into the Snitch-a-Nator 9000's screen, only to find out that it read, **"TRUTH".** "Well look at that B," mocked Sue, "Mr. Zimmerman was telling the truth after all." "Sorry about that sir," said Brad with an embarrassed look on his face, "I was just looking out for my friends here, y'know. Plus, I really wanted to test this out." "So you're an inventor as well?" asked Hank, "That's very impressive young man." Brad grinned and simply said, "Wow, thanks sir."

Just then, Brad's cell phone rang and it displayed the local hospital's number. Brad put the phone to his ears just as Wordsworth yelled, "Brad… STOP SNITCHING!" Sue and Miles laughed as Brad accidently dropped the phone and fell on his knees as his ears started ringing. Yurei picked up the phone and put it on speaker asking Wordsworth and Clay about Ricky's ankle. "Oh God, it's horrible," shouted Wordsworth, "we got him into his room and blood started spewing everywhere like a freaking fireman's hose. It's all over the walls, floor, and ceiling and it even got in the doctor's mouth! Oh my Lord, we were barely able to stop it!" Everyone gasped in horror while Yurei grinned and said, "Please tell me you got it on video." "Nah, we're just screwing with you guys," said Ricky in the background, "the doctor says I'll be back on my feet in a month." Everyone calmed down while Yurei whispered, "Dammit." "Tell you what," said Hank, "since it was indirectly my fault that your friend landed in the hospital, allow me to give you all a lift. You kids up for a ride in my limo?" Just then, a limousine pulled up next to them and an attractive woman with curly red hair opened the back door. Hank smiled at the woman and then turned to the group of friends saying, "Meet Sarah Jones, my lovely vice president." Mike muttered to Sue, "She could put a horn on a jellyfish, eh Sheila?" Sue merely responded by giving the Aussie a backhand across the back of his head. "I call shotgun," said Miles as he was the first to dash for the back seat. Brad nodded his head replying, "You fool, you can't ride shotgun, we're in the back of the car." "Just shut up and get in mate," said Mike as he picked up Brad and tossed him into the limo. As the limo drove off someone said, "Now this is a sweet ride." "Indeed it is," replied Hank with a smile, "it's definitely not cheap, but it certainly is a beauty." Daniel and Brad looked at each other very confused with Daniel saying, "Huh? That's weird, it sounded like it was coming from this Terrafin toy." Mike laughed saying, "Mate, this ain't some freaking toy story. Everyone knows that toys can't actually talk." "Yeah, you're right," said Brad. Daniel remained quiet as he noticed a dim aura coming from the toy.


	5. Chapter 4 - We're So Similar

**Chapter 4 – We're So Similar**

Upon arriving at the hospital Daniel chose to stay behind to talk to Hank, while everyone else went inside. "Something on your mind son?" "Yes Mr. Zimmerman, do you happen to know what happened to him? My father I mean." Hank nodded and simply replied, "I wish I had the answers, but I don't. I'm sorry Daniel." A highly disappointed Daniel replied, "I didn't think you would, but thanks anyway. I just know he's still out there somewhere, but there are so many other things I keep asking myself. Things such as, where would he go? Why would he leave his family? If he ever plans on coming back? If he's even still alive I mean…" Hank looked up to the sky for a few seconds as a convocation of eagles flew overhead and then looked back down at Daniel. "See those eagles Daniel? They stick together as one. They soar as one, eat as one, sleep as one, and sometimes they'll even fight as one. They're basically one big family. And sadly, just like any other family, they all must eventually part ways. However, they will always be there for each other when the time comes. I do believe you and your family are going through something very similar." "So you're saying there's a chance that's he still out there somewhere?" asked Daniel. "There's no way of knowing," replied Hank, "but only time will tell. Remember, the man was a brilliant scientist just like me, he was probably on the verge of discovering something that could revolutionize the world. If he's still out there, I can guarantee you that he hasn't forgotten you and will return as soon as he can." Daniel cheered up a little, but then noticed that Hank was holding back a tear. "Is something wrong Mr. Zimmerman?" "I'm sorry Daniel, it's just that this whole conversation has reminded me so much of my beloved Sabrina. She was a lovely woman, a fantastic wife, and the perfect mother. I'll never forgive myself for what happened." "I'm so sorry Mr. Zimmerman," said Daniel with a saddened look on his face once more. "It's okay my boy, and please, call me Hank."

Daniel briefly smiled and then noticed a dim aura coming from the back seat of Hank's limo. "Clay's Terrafin, I almost forgot about it. I asked him if I could borrow it for a few days." Hank looked down at the toy and said, "Ah yes, that's one of those Skylanders I presume." "Yes, replied Daniel, "you know about these?" Hank chuckled and said, "Yes I have, my daughter plays these games all the time. She has every single game to date and literally every single figure. Even though I'm rich, they still drain my poor wallet dry," joked Hank. The two laughed before Daniel said to Hank, "You did mention your wife was a mother earlier, but I didn't know you had kids Hank." Hank stopped laughing and replied, "Well the thing is, I didn't exactly want the public to know about her. Being one of the richest and most powerful men in the world has its… problems. I didn't want her to get mixed up in any of those problems so her mother and I hid her from the world for her own safety. You understand that right?" "I believe so sir," said Daniel, "what's her name by the way?" "Her name is Emily, and she's about your age. She's currently in Los Angeles, says she has some business to take care of."

Just then, the group of friends exited the hospital with Wordsworth pushing Ricky in a wheelchair. "Due to that fall, the doctor says he'll need to lay off from playing ball," said Wordsworth. Ricky looked up at his friend replying, "Yeah right, you seriously think this little accident is gonna stop this town's MVP? Watch this I can perfectly stand on my-", Ricky then immediately fell with his face hitting the sidewalk as he tried to get out of the wheelchair and stand up on his own. Sue then picked up Ricky by his shirt's collar saying, "You just got out of the hospital, again. Do you wanna visit the dentist next?" "I'm cool babe," replied Ricky with a grin on his face and a raised eyebrow. A disgusted Sue then dropped Ricky back in the chair saying, "Unless you want me to your other ankle, don't call me 'babe'." Afterwards, Ricky, Clay, and Wordsworth just now realized that they were in the presence of Hank Zimmerman, with Clay asking what had they missed. Brad told the three he's explain everything later while Hank approached Ricky. "Wordsworth," whispered Ricky, "get a selfie real quick." Hank then gave Ricky what appeared to be a gummy, and told the latter to swallow it. Ricky did as Hank told him and swallowed it, which caused him to literally jump out of his chair and stand perfectly fine on his feet. "I don't know what you just did Mr. Z, but it worked like a charm. I feel like a brand new man all of a sudden." "You're welcome young man, it's a new prototype healing drug I'm working on. It is intended to heal pretty much any injury. Again, it's a prototype so the effects on your ankle might not last long. So here's a vial of a dozen just in case." "Thanks Z," exclaimed Ricky. "It's the least I can do for earlier," replied Hank. Just then, Hank's cell phone rang and he looked towards Daniel and his friends saying, "Duty calls, c'mon Sarah let's drop these kids off at their homes and head back to Asemetro." "You can actually just drop us all off at my place," said Ricky, "we're supposed to have a little Skylanders tournament tonight. Loser has to do everyone's homework for a week, unless your name is Wordsworth." Wordsworth simply grunted while everyone else laughed. "Alright then, said Hank, "next stop, the young man's mansion." "How did you know I have a mansion Mr. Z?" "Your parents are good partners of mine," answered Hank, "they've been big supporters of me for years." Brad looked at Daniel and whispered, "A lot of coincidences today, huh Danny?"

After a fifteen-minute drive, the group arrived at Ricky's mansion. "We have arrived at our destination, I hope you all have a good night and an awesome tournament. It was nice meeting you all. All of you. And Ricky, try not to run over anyone else with that skateboard." Daniel waved goodbye as the limo drove off. "Seems like you and Hank got along pretty well D," said Sue with a smile on her face. "Yeah, turns out we're not so different. We're actually quite similar." Daniel then reached into his pocket and gave Clay his Terrafin. "You might be needed this in a few minutes." Clay smiled and said, "Thanks man, now let's get to it." Everyone walked through the front gates of the mansion, while Sue grabbed Daniel by the arm and looked him in the eyes. "Hey D, I just want you to know that, no matter what happens we'll always be here for you." Daniel smiled at his friend as Sue smiled back at him. Before they could say anything else, they were interrupted by Miles, "Hurry up guys, we ain't got all night!" Sue and Daniel both rolled their eyes as they walked through the gates. "It's almost time masters," said a mysterious voice. Daniel and Sue turned around and saw what appeared to be a purple dragon standing in the distance. They both looked at each other and then back in the direction of the anonymous figure, only to find nothing there. "Strange," muttered Daniel.


	6. Chapter 5 - Welcome to Skylands!

**Chapter 5 – Welcome to Skylands!**

Daniel and Sue finally made it to the front doors of the mansion, both with very confused looks on their faces. "You two look like you've seen a ghost," said Yurei with a raised eyebrow. "Call me crazy, but I swore we saw Spyro," said Sue pointing behind herself. Everyone stood silent while Wordsworth, Miles, and Ricky tried to resist laughing. "It's true," said Daniel, "we actually saw him. Or at least I think we did. Did we really?" Wordsworth gasped and shouted, "Oh my God, you're right! I see Spyro the Dragon out in the distance taking flight!" Everyone looked in the direction Wordsworth was pointing only to find an eagle flying towards a nearby oak tree. Wordsworth, Ricky, Miles, and Mike all starting laughing like wild hyenas, causing Daniel to turn red with embarrassment. Feeling sorry for Daniel, Sue became highly irritated and gave the four laughers a powerful backhand that sent them all flying into the mansion's solid gold doors. Sue looked down at Wordsworth with a raised eyebrow and simply said, "Not cool bro, not cool at all."

Just then the doors opened and a man in black stood at the entrance. "Ah yes, good evening Master Ricky, I thought I heard someone knocking." "Nope," said Miles rubbing his head, "that was just the sound of our skulls caving in." Ricky got off the ground, wiped his feet on Mike, and addressed his servant. "Oliver, sup dude? I didn't think you'd be back from your vacation yet." Oliver picked Mike off the ground and replied, "Asemetro was getting a little too crowded for me. Plus, the hotel I was staying in would rip you off every chance they got sir. Could you imagine having to pay fifty dollars for a pillow? Or how about giving up a Benjamin every time you wanted to use the Jacuzzi? I couldn't be happier to be back here, and remind me never to go to Asemetro again. Or at the very least, remind me never to go back to that hotel." Ricky smirked and said, "Tell ya what dude, take the rest of the night off. It's a Friday night, go have some fun, do whatever you want for the rest of the night." Oliver grinned really hard and replied, "Oh yeah! Now this is what I'm talking about! Thanks Master Ricky, T.G.I.F. people! Woohoo!" Oliver then took off running down the stairs and then immediately ran back up. "I almost forgot to hand out complimentary mints for your guests sir. Here you go everyone, the strongest mints in the world. Oh and Master Wordsworth, it's 7:00, heads-up." Oliver left and a yellow Lamborghini pulled up in the mansion's driveway with a beautiful young blonde woman stepping out of the driver's seat. "What's good Summer?" asked Sue. "Not much violet," said Summer, "just got done getting everything I need to DJ the homecoming party." "But that's not for another three months," said Miles. "Not anymore tiny," said Summer, "the school board and the homecoming committee just announced that the new release date is in two weeks. So, now I just need to figure out which tracks people wanna hear at the dance." Summer then stopped, smirked, and raised an eyebrow. "So we have the shy guy, the nerd, the tomboy, the hippie, the emo, the wild one, the hunter, and my brother. Someone's missing… I wonder who?" "He's hiding behind the door," coughed Yurei. Wordsworth ran off shouting, "Damn you Yurei!" with Summer hot on his tail. "That's what he gets for stiffing me on those five dollars," said Yurei to his friends. The friends walked in the mansion and walked up the stairs, only to find Wordsworth half-unconscious and his face covered in gold lipstick. "Do you always have to tackle him like that Summer?" chuckled Sue. "Of course not," replied Summer, "but that's what makes it fun. Although, I'll never understand why he almost passes out whenever this happens." "I can easily answer that," said Brad. "Here we go again," whispered Mike to Ricky and Yurei. "You see Summer, Wordsworth is a skinny dude while you have a voluptuous build. So you tackling him and pinning him to the ground literally knocks the wind out of him. That, and the fact that your chest is pretty massive." Summer didn't say anything and simply shoved Brad back down the stairs, with Miles hysterically laughing. After Brad climbed his way back up the stairs and Wordsworth regained full consciousness, everyone headed for the entertainment room while Summer stopped Wordsworth. "Gotta go to your old man's shop. I told him I'd help him sort out all of the new records. See ya at 10, love ya." Sue watched in silent as Summer and Wordsworth made out and then looked over at Daniel. "I wish it was that simple for us Danny," she whispered to herself. "It **is** that simple," said Yurei who seemed to appear out of nowhere. Sue jumped and almost screamed, surprised to see Yurei standing directly behind her. "Where the hell did you just come from Yurei?" "I'm everywhere Sue," replied Yurei, "I hear everything, I see everything, I know everything. Scratch that, I don't really know everything, that's pretty much Brad's job, but I think you get the picture." Yurei then looked at Daniel along with Sue and said to his friend, "Just tell him how you really feel. We all pretty much know how you two feel about each other, so why do you still hesitate?" "I don't know," answered Sue, "I guess I'm just too weak to do it." "Sheila, if there's one thing you're not, it's weak," said Mike who was listening in on the conversation. "Okay, is there anyone else standing behind me?" asked Sue. "Nope," answered the Aussie, "just me and Yurei." "I still don't know you guys. I'm still not ready, and neither is he obviously. Maybe we're just not meant to be." Yurei and Mike, both with caring expressions on their faces put gave Sue a pat on the shoulder with Mike saying, "Just give it time love." "After all, added Yurei, "you know what they say, only time will tell." Sue smiled at her friends and then looked over at Daniel, who was still unaware of what was happening behind him. "I guess you're right. Thanks guys…," said Sue. "No worries," said Mike. "I'm still not going easy on you two though, me and Spyro are taking you fools down." "I figured you'd say that," said Mike. "Saw that coming," added Yurei. "C'mon dudes," said Ricky to the three friends, "and Wordsworth, stop tongue wrestling with my sister and get up here!" Oliver went home, Summer left, and everyone else finally entered the entertainment room, unaware that they had some unexpected guests downstairs. "Wow, she's got relationship problems just like you Spyro," said Eruptor. "I do not have relationship problems," said the purple dragon in defense, "me and Cynder are simply taking a break right now." "Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight…," replied the lava monster." "They're starting the game," said Stealth Elf. "Alright lads, it's show time," said Jet-Vac to his fellow Skylanders, "Operation: Elite Master Comeback is a go." "That's seriously the best name you could come up with pal?" asked Eruptor. "Wait," said Spyro, "where are Gill and Trigg?" "We're over here," said Gill Grunt carrying a box of popcorn and a large soda, "did you know these people have their very own concession stand?" "This is no time for snacks guys," said Spyro, "we need to get in that room ASAP. Now move out! Wait, I don't suppose there would be any butter on there?" Stealth Elf rolled her eyes while Trigger Happy laughed like crazy.

Meanwhile, the party of friends began playing _Skylanders: SWAP Force_ on Ricky's Xbox One and engaged in an epic battle mode tournament. The first to lose was Yurei's Chop Chop, second was Miles's Stealth Elf, third was Clay's Terrafin, fourth was Wordsworth's Eruptor, fifth was Ricky's Gill Grunt, sixth was Brad's Trigger Happy, and seventh was Mike's Jet-Vac. The final match was between Sue's Spyro and Daniel's Dark Spyro. Before the final match could start Brad said, "Hold on, since we all lost, how will we decide who does whose homework?" "Don't know, don't care," said Sue, "c'mon Danny let's do this!" Just as the match began, an ominous storm cloud started to form above the mansion. "I didn't know forecast called for a storm today," said Clay. "It's didn't…," said Brad. The cloud then started shooting out bolts of lightning with very odd colors. "Forecast definitely didn't call for a storm consisting of neon colored lighning bolts." Afterwards, the storm seemed to stop, only for the mansion to shake violently and for a bolt of lightning to come through the ceiling and strike the Portal of Power. The party stood in silence as the mansion's power was completely cut off, yet the portal was somehow still active. "It's pitch black in here," said Brad, "how is that thing even on right now?" "This is pretty peculiar, and that's a lot coming from me," added Yurei with a troubled expression on his face. Daniel then began to slowly walk towards the glowing portal, with his eyes wide open and his eyebrows raised as high as they could go. "What are you doing D?" asked a concerned Sue. "I know this is gonna sound crazy," replied Daniel, "but it's almost like it's speaking to me." "Mate, this is crazy," said a troubled Mike, "don't touch that thing." Daniel didn't stop and kept going, seemingly trapped in a daze. Brad, not willing to take any chances, unplugged the portal from the console causing it to turn off. Daniel briefly stopped and looked at Brad saying, "Thanks Brad, I don't know what happened there for a second." "Don't mention it," said Brad, "that's what friends do for each other after all. Y'know, looking out for each other and stopping them from touching a mysterious piece of technology that just got struck by neon lightning." Wordsworth panicked and picked up the portal in an attempt to throw it out an open window, only for it to fly right back into the room, hit Wordsworth in the back of the head, hover above the group, and turn itself back on. "Okay, this is so not cool anymore," mumbled a freaked out Ricky. Without warning, the portal released a massive wave of energy and started to suck Sue in. Daniel grabbed onto Sue's arm in an attempt to save her, but only found himself getting pulled in with her. Brad then grabbed ahold of Daniel and the same thing happened to him. Wordsworth grabbed Brad, Ricky grabbed Wordsworth, Miles grabbed Ricky, Yurei grabbed Miles, and Clay grabbed Yurei while also holding onto one of the legs of a nearby coffee table. Unfortunately, Clay lost his grip and all nine friends were pulled into the Portal of Power and found themselves falling through what appeared to be a magical abyss with a bright light at the end. Unable to handle the experience, all nine of them fell unconscious.

Afterwards, the group awoke to find themselves in a grassy field surrounded by mysterious creatures. "Boy, what a weird dream," said Wordsworth, "I dreamed that we were surrounded by a bunch of Skylanders and that they wanted us to join their team." Sue looked at Wordsworth through the corner of her eyes and replied, "I don't think that was a dream bro." "No way…," said Clay in awe. "Eruptor, Stealth Elf, Pop Fizz, Jet-Vac, Trigger Happy, Gill Grunt," exclaimed Daniel in excitement, "they're actually real!" "Well of course we're real," said a chuckling voice. "Who said that?" asked Daniel. A purple figure then swooped in from the sky and landed directly in front of Daniel. "That would be me," said Spyro. "Spyro the Dragon…," muttered Daniel in shock. "The one and only," replied Spyro. "See? I told you we weren't lying," said Sue to the others. "Wait," said Brad, "if you're real then that means, we must be in-," a bright light shined in the sky before Brad could finish his sentence and a giant floating head appeared above them. "Greetings Portal Masters! I am Eon, but I'm sure you already knew that. Welcome to Skylands!" "I think I just peed myself a little," said a joyful Brad.


	7. Chapter 6 - Origins

**Chapter 6 – Origins**

"Yes, yes," said Master Eon, "I know this all seems very strange young Portal Masters. This is Skylands, as you can clearly see, and-," "The Core of Light," interrupted Brad, "and the Arkeyan Weapon Master, General Robot, they're all real!" Mike then pulled a roll of duct tape out of Brad's backpack and slapped it over his mouth to shut him up. "That's enough fanboying for now mate." "Slow down dudes," said Ricky with a raised eyebrow, "how do we know this is not just some crazy dream? For all we know one of those bolts of lightning could've struck us and we're all imaging things as if we just dropped acid." Eon chuckled and replied, "I can assure you this is not some wild dream young Ricky, you are all very much awake." "Prove it then," said Ricky as he pointed to Terrafin, "I dare you to punch me as hard as you can. If I don't wake up, then I know I'm not dreaming." "Alright," said Terrafin, "but you asked for it sucka!" Terrafin then burrowed underground and jumped out in front of Ricky, performing an uppercut on him on launching him fifty feet in the air. As everyone watched as Ricky went up to the sky and soon began to fall, Stealth Elf walked up to the group and asked, "Any of you feel like catching him?" "No way," answered Wordsworth, "I'm too skinny to use as a landing pad." Stealth Elf then looked over to Miles with him responding, "Uhhh… What he said." "Don't look at me Sheila," said Mike, "I'm not getting turned into street pizza. Besides, he still owes me twenty big ones." "According to my calculations, the impact of the fall will completely shatter my body and I will be nothing more than a pool of molecules," said Brad. Stealth Elf rolled her eyes and then moved on to Yurei asking him, "Do I even have to ask?" "I honestly don't care," he replied. Clay was too busy returning a baby bird to its nest to even notice what was going on, so the ninja elf didn't even bother with him. Stealth Elf then looked over at Sue with a raised eyebrow, "C'mon Sue," said the elf, "you can do it. Hopefully…" Sue sighed and said, "Alright, let's get this over with." Sue stood under where Ricky was falling and raised her arms up in an attempt to catch her friend. As Ricky got closer, Sue began to think that this maybe wasn't such a good idea and shut her eyes tight right when Ricky was about to land on her. To everyone's surprise, Ricky was shielded safely in a giant purple bubble and a strange purple aura surrounded Sue. Sue opened her eyes to see Ricky floating in a bubble right above her head, and that her entire body was engulfed in a bright purple light. Sue's eyes opened as far as they could go as she gasped in shock and accidently dropped Ricky, causing the latter to fall dead smack on his face. "Relax Sue," said Spyro in a calm tone, "this is perfectly normal for an elite Portal Master such as yourself." "Hey," said Daniel as he held Sue by the arm, "Eon did call us Portal Masters earlier, and he sounded serious about it too. What's going on here?" "Gather around kids," said Eon in response to Daniel's question, "let me tell you an ancient tale, about the origins of the Elite Masters."

"Before the age of the Portal Masters, the Benevolent Ancients watched over Skylands and its people, although some records indicate that most of them did lazy jobs doing so. Despite their overall laziness, they were responsible for the creation of many magnificent things to help protect Skylands from the forces of evil, such as the Portals and the great machine known as the Core of Light. However, they also made several regretful decisions that have nearly caused the complete and utter destruction of Skylands. One good example, although not entirely confirmed as of yet, is for letting the malevolent entity known simply as The Darkness into Skylands. A handful of their 'creations', however, were kept a secret from the entire world for thousands of years. No one knows why or how, but the Ancients decided to have spawns of their own. Some believe that they simply didn't want their legacy to die, which is pretty ironic considering the fact that the Ancients are immortal. These children were literally born with immense powers, with each one being able to harness the powers of one of the elements. However, the children could not keep any control over their powers and they were getting more powerful with each passing day. Fearful that their own children could become potential threats to Skylands, as well as becoming powerful enough to the point of being able to overpower them without challenge, the Ancients locked them away in an isolated dimension where their powers couldn't do any harm. Several centuries passed and the kids were now in their teenage years. At this point, they had grown tired of their incarceration, as well as some of them being driven to the point of insanity, and hatched an escape plan. Using their combined knowledge and powers, they eventually managed to blast open a hole from their dimension and into Skylands itself. Once the group entered Skylands, they found themselves in front of the Core of Light and witnessed a being of pure elemental energy emerge from the light of the great machine. It would seem that they weren't imprisoned in a different realm at all, but rather inside the Core of Light itself. The group's powers combined with the Core's energy created a new and rather unique element, and the new being of this element offered to help them control their powers and asked for absolutely nothing in return. After years of training with their new ally, and eventually new leader, the team of elementals finally learned how to control their abilities properly and sought out to return to their original world, seeking revenge against their parents for imprisoning them inside the Core of Light for centuries. However, the pure elemental convinced them that it wasn't worth it, as it wouldn't make them any better than the Ancients. The others agreed to this and decided to use their powers for the greater good of the Skylands." "Wow," said Daniel, Brad, and Miles. "But it doesn't stop there," said Eon, "they were also responsible for bringing the first Skylanders together. When the Arkeyans rose to power and started terrorizing Skylands, the elementals intentionally created the events that would bring the Giants together to bring down the mechanical tyrants. With the fall of the Arkeyans and the banishment of the Giants, the elementals knew that something had to be done if the Skylands were to remain safe. Thus, they became the very first Portal Masters. Soon afterwards, they sought out good-hearted creatures of all shapes and sizes who had the potential to become guardians of their world and new Portal Masters were recruited left and right. The more Portal Masters didn't just mean the vast world of Skylands would be more safe from harm, but more Portal Masters also meant more strength for the elementals, who were soon referred to as the Elite Masters, and kept them at their most powerful. However, when the Nightmare King, Nefarion, rose to power and started killing off the Portal Masters, the Elite Masters grew weaker and eventually weren't strong enough to defend themselves against Nefarion. Wizbit, one of the last remaining Portal Masters and Nefarion's soon-to-be imprisoner, attempted to cast a spell to rebuild the Elite Masters' strength long enough to defeat the evil king. Unfortunately, Nefarion found the party and interrupted the spell by firing a magical bolt of lightning at the heroes in a final attempt to destroy them. However, rather than disintegrating them, the blast shed the Elite Masters of their physical bodies and sent them back to their original dimension. Something about that seems highly familiar. Anyway, upon meeting the Ancients again, the Elites thought they were in a heap of trouble. To their surprise however, the Ancients were actually congratulating them. Seeing as how they managed to escape their elemental incarceration all on their own, formed the first Skylanders and Portal Masters, and created an entirely new element. Unfortunately, the Ancients were unable to restore the Elites' physical bodies, but they offered an alternate solution to this. While searching for the Elite Masters after they escaped from the Core of Light, the Ancients discovered a new world, a planet in the Milky Way galaxy known as Earth. The Ancients informed the Elites that due to now being spirits, they would be unable to lead future heroes or fight the forces of darkness; they would instead need to go to Earth and seek out pure human souls that suited to their respected elements and, seeing as how Earth lacked magic, it would be extremely hard for the Elite Masters to be hunted down. As the centuries passed, they would remain as one with the souls they selected through multiple reincarnations. The Elites have since been forgotten by the world of Skylands, considered as nothing more than a classic tall tale. However, those who do believe in the story say that the Elite Masters will return someday. And that someday, is now."

Sue finally stopped glowing and asked, "So long story short, all nine of us have ancient spirits living inside of us?" "In a way, yes," answered Eon. "So if Sue is being inhabited by the Magic Elite," said Daniel, "then which Elite do the rest of us represent?" Hugo walked up to the group and pointed at the nine friends. "To answer your question Daniel; Mike represents Air, Ricky represents Water, Earth for Clay, Life for Miles, Brad is Tech, Yurei is 'possessed' by the Undead Elite, and Wordsworth is the master of Fire." "It all makes sense all of a sudden, a little bit," said Daniel, "but which element am I?" "You represent the Pure element young Daniel," answered Eon, "which means you must lead these heroes into battle." "This is all flattering Master Eon sir," said Sue, "but we're no heroes, we're just your average teenagers." "Yeah," added Mike, "and besides mate, I don't see no battle here, do you?" Immediately after Mike asked that a loud explosion could be heard in the distance and heavy footsteps could be heard getting closer and closer to the group. Eruptor then looked directly at Mike and asked, "You were saying?"


	8. Chapter 7 - Olé

**Chapter 7 –** **Olé**

The sound of heavy footsteps grew louder and louder until the Skylanders and the Elite Masters could see what appeared to be a mechanical bull walking on its hind legs. "Oh great, it's him again," said General Robot. "Him who," asked Miles with sweat running down his face. "This walking tin can is a former soldier of mine," answered the robotic general, "his name is Iron Will and he was my lieutenant before Rizzo came along. He would always follow an order, never back away from a fight, was always a team player, and was an absolute genius when it came to constructing new weapons the Mabu Defense Force could use during times of crisis. He was definitely one of my best soldiers, if not **the** best. However, one day he went array. Special Agent Snuckles reported that someone from our side was selling weapons to some of our most dangerous enemies, and not just any weapons, weapons that were constructed by Iron Will himself. Of course he denied all of this when I confronted him, but the writing was on the wall; for real, he had notes filled with the names of the criminals he was selling to pinned on the walls of his cabin." "Uhhhh… mate…," interrupted Mike with a concerned look on his face. "Not now son," said General Robot, "please let me continue. Now as I was saying, Iron Will was caught red handed and I relieved him of duty without any second chances." "Hey man," interrupted Clay, "I really think we should-," General Robot continued with his story again, "Anyway, I promoted Rizzo as my new second-in-command and Iron Will swore vengeance on me and the rest of the Mabu Defense Force." "Okay, seriously," said Yurei with a serious expression. General Robot raised his voice and once again continued his story, "Iron Will returned one day wearing a prototype battle suit which slightly resembled a bull and he dubbed himself, Minotaur. He went on an absolute rampage and destroyed everything in his path, including my lifetime supply of motor oil; I shall forever miss that beautiful motor oil. He didn't actually get a chance to fight any of us though since his suit only lasted for about five minutes before it completely broke down on him, guess he forgot to tighten a screw or something. Unfortunately, he was able to make a quick getaway and that was the last we ever saw of him. Now what were you newbies trying to tell me?" "This Minotaur guy has literally been standing right in front of us for like the past five minutes dude," said Sue with an angry look on her face. "Oops," muttered the embarrassed general, "my bad soldiers."

"You better be sorry fool," shouted Minotaur, "because the Minotaur is back baby, and this time I'm bringing the pain! Check out the new and improved armor, I got it courtesy of Kaos, and all I had to do was sell him a couple of scrap metal for his so-called 'Doomsday Machine of Doom'." "Kaos gave you this suit? It obviously won't work then," chuckled Spyro. "You wish fool," replied Minotaur, "this new suit provides me with enhanced speed, enhanced strength, and the power to shoot fire from my freakin' hands and horns. Still don't believe me? Then watch this!" Minotaur then turned his attention towards the tree Clay had just returned the baby bird to and proceeded to slowly light it on fire. Minotaur grinned and exclaimed, "Burn baby… BURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRN!" Clay quickly became enraged by what he was witnessing, "Not groovy man." "Say what," asked Minotaur, "I can't hear you over the sound of the wood burning." "I… said… NOT… GROOVY," exclaimed Clay as he charged at Minotaur and easily knocked him down, but also causing him to knock down the burning tree in the process. Clay quickly picked up the baby bird and gave it to Hugo, "Can you please watch over this awesome little guy man?" "As long as it's not a sheep, I can handle it," said Hugo as he retreated to his hiding hole. "Guys we have a problem," said Daniel pointing at the burning tree as its flames swiftly engulfed the grassy fields. Gill Grunt swooped in and attempted to extinguish the fiery flames, but with no success. "It's too much," said the gillman, "I don't think I can tame this one." Minotaur then got back on his feet and slapped Gill Grunt into a nearby wall. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah," exclaimed Minotaur, "y'all can't handle this heat. Tell you what, you seem like you've had enough so I'll just put out these flames and go about my business." "Really," asked Daniel. "Nope," replied Minotaur, "I'm burning this joint to the ground. Y'all goin' down in eternal flame!" Minotaur then began burning the rest of the grass and almost everything was consumed by flames, he then turned his attention towards General Robot and the Skylanders. "Welp, it's been a blast but I think it's time to say goodbye general." Minotaur then took aim at the team of heroes and proceeded to take them out in a powerful blast. Wordsworth ran to the heroes in an attempt to shield them from the blast and takes a direct hit from Minotaur's fireball. Daniel, Sue, Miles, and the others looked on in horror believing that their friend had just been incinerated by the fireball. To everyone's surprise however, Wordsworth stood completely unharmed as a red aura surrounded his body and his hands almost completely covered in fire. "Wordsworth," yelled Sue, "you okay bro?" "I-I think so," he answered, "it's just… woah…" A confused Minotaur attempted to harm the heroes a second time, but Wordsworth still somehow managed to absorb the hit like a sponge soaking up water.

"I knew my sister thought you were hot," joked Ricky, "but this is just ridiculous." Minotaur then grew enraged and huffed to Wordsworth, "I don't know who any of you kids are, but I'm already starting not to like any of you." Minotaur then proceeded to punch Wordsworth, but was stopped by what appeared to be a fire shield protecting the latter. Daniel's eyes briefly flashed solid white as he pointed to Wordsworth and told him to push both of his hands forward. "Just trust me Wordsworth, I have a good feeling about this." "Yeah right," remarked Minotaur, "next you're gonna say tonight's gonna be a good night or something like that." Wordsworth listened to his friend as he pulled his arms back and shoved them forward with all his might, sending out a powerful wave of fire that sent Minotaur flying through the air and causing him to land in the ocean nearby. An angry Minotaur stood up on his feet and aimed both of his torch guns at Daniel and the others seeing as how they most likely wouldn't be able to deflect the attack like Wordsworth had. However, his weapons would not ignite as the ocean water had extinguished his flames; seeing an opportunity to strike, Spyro and Jet-Vac jumped down to Wordsworth's side and started attacking Minotaur with everything they had. As everyone watched as the battle continued Daniel's eyes went blank again and his entire body glowed bright with a white aura; Daniel aimed his hand at Wordsworth and balled it into a fist, causing the latter to instantly appear directly in front of him. "Wordsworth," said Daniel still glowing in a white aura, "I need you to get rid of those growing flames in the field behind us. Like right now!" "You can't fight fire with fire," interrupted Brad, "he'll just make it worse!" "He easily absorbed that fireball earlier like it was nothing," remarked Yurei, "so he thinks Wordsworth will be able to absorb these flames with no problem." "I don't think so," added Daniel to his friends, "I know so. Wordsworth, you can do this, trust me." Wordsworth nodded his head with confidence and walked into the flames. "I didn't say walk directly into the flames though," muttered Daniel to himself. Everyone watched in amazement as Daniel's plan worked and Wordsworth began absorbing the flames without harming himself; soon afterwards, the fire was completely gone and the Citadel was no longer in danger of burning to the ground. "Not bad bro," said Sue to Wordsworth with a smile on her face, "not bad at all." "Mate, that was freakin' epic," added Mike, "will you sign me arrow? Wait… I don't have it with me."

As everyone except Mike started laughing, Spyro and Jet-Vac brought Iron Will and his battered battle suit up to General Robot. "You had so much potential son," said the general in a disappointed tone, "but perhaps it's truly my fault that you ended up like this. Perhaps one day we can start over and everything will be just like the good ol' days. For now, you'll be serving some time in Cloudcracker Prison, I've already contacted the Trap Team and they'll be over here shortly." Sue raised an eyebrow and asked the general, "Who's the Trap Team general?" General Robot simply replied, "I am not allowed to give you that information yet missy, but I'm pretty sure you'll learn about them in due time." Just then, Master Eon reappeared above the heroes with a relieved look on his face. "Well done Portal Masters, or should I say Elite Masters, you have successfully taken down your first supervillain and saved the Citadel and the Core of Light." "We? Wordsworth did all of the work," said Ricky. "While it is true that Wordsworth served a pivotal role in Minotaur's defeat and eliminating those dastardly flames, Clay was the first one to jump into action and Daniel played a role in leading Wordsworth in battle in a way," added Eon, "so this was not a one-man mission." "Yeah," muttered Miles, "but what use were the rest of us? We just stood there surrounded by fire feeling utterly helpless. How useful does that make us?" Eon frowned in compassion but then reverted to a smile saying, "Believe me when I say that you all will serve an important role in your quest as the guardians of our universe. Your time will come young heroes, I guarantee it."

"Slow down Eon," said Sue, "did you just say quest? I think we deserve some more explanations before any quest of any kind begins. For starters, how did we even get sucked into Skylands?" "I have all the answers you seek," replied the old Portal Master, "come into my citadel and I shall explain everything to the best of my knowledge." "You heard the floating head," said Eruptor, "let's go." As everyone started walking towards Eon's Citadel, Daniel's aura returned for a split second as he rested his hand on Miles's shoulder and pointed towards the patches of burnt grass left over from the battle with Minotaur. "Place your hands on the burnt grass," whispered Daniel, "I have another good feeling." Miles listened to Daniel without any second guesses and was shocked to see the destroyed field return to its previous state. Miles chuckled with joy and looked over back at Daniel as he simply said, "This is gonna be sweet."


	9. Chapter 8 - Answers

**Chapter 8 – Answers**

"Welcome to the Citadel, Elite Masters," exclaimed Eon in a joyful manner, "where the Portal Masters and the Skylanders have looked over our world and kept everything in balance and harmony for many centuries. Of course there's still a ton of work left to do on it after Kaos destroyed the Core of Light two years ago, but please feel free to gaze upon its glory and magnificence." Everyone stared in amazement as they walked around the inside of the main tower as the sunlight shined through the tower's glass roof and waves of magic coursed through the concrete walls; even Yurei was impressed as while he didn't express it physically he simply thought to himself, "Impressive…" "This is absolutely amazing," said Daniel and Sue at the exact same time. The two looked at each other and briefly smiled with Sue giving a tiny giggle. Daniel and Sue then noticed that their hands were getting closer and closer to each other and realized that Wordsworth and Brad were slowly pushing their hands together in an effort to get the two of them to hold hands. Sue's entire face turned red as she proceeded to turn around and slap the two of them across the face, and nearly causing them to fall onto Hugo who screamed out of fear. "Sorry Hugo," said Sue with a regretful look on her face, "I didn't see you there." "No problem Master Sue," said a slightly shocked Hugo, "I was just about to return this little bird to Master Clay over there." A grinning Sue smiled and said to herself, "Master Sue? I like the sound of that." "Yeah," added Daniel, "it has a nice ring to it." "You can call me whatever you'd like D," whispered Sue to Daniel. Daniel just slightly blushed and didn't reply while Wordsworth was helping Brad off the ground. "I bet you 100 bucks they'll never kiss before graduation," whispered Brad to Wordsworth. "You're on," replied Wordsworth to Brad as the two friends shook hands to seal the deal.

"Here's the bird you asked me to look after Master Clay," said Hugo as he handed Clay the bird. "I really appreciate it Hugo," said a relieved Clay, "I'll be sure to find him a new home until we can find his parents, and don't worry, I owe you one." The bird then flew over to Miles and started pulling one of his dreads with its beak. "Ouch," exclaimed Miles in utter pain, "my hair is not a worm!" Everyone laughed while Clay gently pulled the bird from Miles's hair. "Sorry about that Miles, I'll be sure to hold onto him for right now." "Alright Eon, it's time to explain everything you know," said Ricky. "Yeah mate," added Mike, "ya still got me scratching me head over here about a few things. For starters, how did we get sucked away here into Skylands?" Eon nodded his head and began explaining everything to the best of his knowledge. "It all started two years ago after Kaos destroyed the Core of Light and the Skylanders were banished to your world. As you already know, the Skylanders shrunk and were turned into motionless toys as a result of Earth lacking any real magic; somehow the magic from the Skylanders left them as they shrunk and were transferred into the Earth as a result, and causing a little bit of magic to build up over time as more and more Skylanders were discovered. Along with the Skylanders, a Portal of Power had coincidentally appeared as well, and many more were found later on causing even more magic to build up within the Earth. Finally, the eruption of Mount Cloudbreak replenished all of the magic in Skylands and a large portion of that magic found its way to Earth." "But how," asked Brad, "isn't Skylands lightyears away from the Earth?" "Indeed Brad," answered Eon, "and because of that the replenished magic found an alternate way to your world, through the Portals. While the Portal of Power may look like a simple piece of plastic in your world, each one truly possesses a strong amount of magic that empowers the Portal Masters and their vast armies of Skylanders." Yurei interrupted and asked, "So what does the recycled magic coming through the Portals have to do with us exactly?" "It **all** has to do you with you young Portal Masters," replied Eon, "the Skylanders, the Portals, and the replenished magic all served important roles in bringing you all here today. The replenished magic was strong enough to reawaken the spirits of the original Elite Masters within all of you, and that magic is slowly starting to grow inside you all as we speak. However, all of that magic was simply too much for the Earth to handle at one time, causing a massive chain reaction that reverted some of that magic back to Skylands." "Let me guess," said Ricky, "that's when the trippy acid neon lightning came in." "Exactly," replied Eon, "and because you all possess powerful magic of your own, your Portal of Power sucked you all in along with any other leftover magic it could return to Skylands." "I guess that all makes sense in one way or another," said Daniel, "and now I'm guessing when I saw Terrafin's toy glow with a dim aura it was because of the leftover magic as well?" "Precisely," answered Eon, "while the Skylanders may look like regular toys in your world, they possess magic just like you nine. However, they don't possess magic on par with that of a Portal Master as you've seen with Kaos being able to free himself from his toy prison." "But that doesn't mean we still can't put up a good fight," added Jet-Vac with a valiant smile. "Whenever you need us we'll be there," said Stealth Elf. "Remember," continued Spyro, "we may be frozen on the outside, but we are very much alive on the inside." "One last thing," said Sue, "if Skylands is real, then how is it a video game franchise in our world?" "I honestly don't know about that," answered a slightly confused Eon, "I'm still trying to figure that one out myself. For the time being, I believe that's everything we have time to cover today." "Now go home and get some rest Masters," said Gill Grunt, "there's a big day ahead of you tomorrow, which equals to about a couple of weeks in our time." "Don't we get any kind of training first," asked Daniel. "Well we **were** gonna train you today," answered Spyro, "but we say that little clash with Minotaur is good enough for right now." "Indeed," agreed Master Eon, "and now I want to show you all something that I believe could serve some importance to you in your journey." "Hold on," interrupted Daniel, "where **is** Minotaur?!" "Don't panic Daniel," said Eon, "he is under the watchful eye of General Robot until reinforcements arrive to take him away." "Wait, **I** was supposed to be the one to watch him," asked General Robot who was standing right behind the group. "I was in the men's room changing my oil," added the general. "Okay, **now** we can panic," exclaimed Eon.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah," exclaimed Iron Will as he threw what remained of his Minotaur suit into Flynn's old hot air balloon, "It's time to make my epic getaway suckas, but don't worry, I'll be back for Round 2 sooner than you think!" Spyro then flew up to the hijacked hot air balloon as it was taking off and attempted to stop Iron Will from escaping by unleashing the full power of the Daybringer Flame, but with no success. "Did Captain Flynn forget to tell you," shouted Iron Will as he ascended into the sky, "this hot air balloon is fire proof baby! I should know, cuz **I'm** the one who originally built it! Peace out suckas, and I'll be sure to give my regards to Kaos!" "We can't let Iron Will escape," exclaimed Spyro to his allies, "c'mon Skylanders!" "Another time Spyro," said Eon, "he's not worth it." Spyro watched on as Iron Will disappeared into the clouds before sighing and saying, "I guess you're right Master Eon, there's always another time." "Besides, we can always track him down if we need to," added Brad. Everyone looked confused until Brad brought out what appeared to be a GPS. "I used a peashooter to shoot one of my homemade tracking devices on his balloon, now we'll be able to see wherever that balloon goes just in case it's necessary." Daniel grinned and then asked his best friend, "You continue to amaze me Brad, but where do you find the time to work on all of this?" "Before you answer that question please take these," said Eon as Hugo brought a chest full of nine different colored crystals. "These are Elemental Gems," said Eon, "they have been passed down to different veteran Portal Masters from generation to generation for safe keeping in case the Elite Masters ever returned, and that time has finally come. Now everyone, please pick the gem that matches the color of your respective Element." The group then picked their respective Elemental Gems and watched as the gems glowed brightly for a few seconds and then went almost completely dim. "Cool," said Ricky, "but what do they do dude?" "That I'm afraid is another thing I am unable to answer," said Eon, "as no one knows for sure what they're capable of and the last known book about them is said to have perished a long time ago." "In other words, only time will tell," added Spyro with a confident smile on his face. "Alright everyone," said Hugo, "just stand on Master Eon's Portal of Power and you should be transported back home. It's a little old and dusty, but it should still be able to get the job done." Brad cautiously asked, "Are you sure that's a good idea? If I remember correctly, Portal Masters aren't supposed to use the Portal of Power on themselves." "Yet Kaossandra used it on herself three times in a row without any consequences," said Eruptor. "Yes Eruptor, but she was a highly advanced Portal Master like Eon," said Jet-Vac, "these kids are still new to the whole Portal Master thing so there's no telling what could happen." "I'm pretty sure we can handle it mate," said Mike with a cocky expression, "but Miles goes first." Mike then threw Miles onto the Portal and the latter was immediately teleported away. "Well at least we know it works," chuckled Mike. Sue then punched Mike extremely hard in the shoulder with a very angry expression on her face as she nodded her head from side to side replying, "Not cool mate… Not… cool…" Sue then pushed Mike onto the Portal as he was teleported away, followed by herself and everyone else excluding Daniel. Daniel then turned around in the direction of Eon and the Skylanders and said, "I still can't believe everything that just occurred today, and there are still so many things on my mind that I wanna ask." "We'll be sure to answer those questions next time Daniel," said Spyro, "but right now your team needs you." "And that's just it," interrupted Daniel, "what if I'm not meant to lead this team? What if I let everyone down? I could never forgive myself if anything happened to them." "Daniel trust me," said Spyro putting his hand on Daniel's shoulder, "leading a team won't be easy at first, but once you get further down the road you'll become one of the greatest champions Skylands has ever known. I just know you will, and I'm sure your father would say the exact same thing if he was here." Daniel then looked down at his Elemental Gem and then back up at Spyro before giving out a smile. "Well alright, I'll try my best," said Daniel, "thanks Spyro. Daniel, still looking at his newest group of friends, stepped backwards into the Portal of Power and gave a thumbs up to the group before vanishing into thin air. Just then, another hot air balloon arrived on the island and the Skylanders prepared for an attack believing it was Iron Will coming back for more. However, the hot air balloon was carrying a blue crocagator and a golden lion wielding crystal weapons. "So where's the convict," asked the lion. No one replied and Eruptor simply gave a facepalm.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Daniel had awoken to find himself laying on top of Sue just as she had woken up with a loving smile on her face. Daniel quickly got up and apologized while Sue giggled and gave him a wink. Daniel then blushed as Sue slowly walked towards him and whispered, "Quick, while we're alone, close your eyes. There's something I wanna show ya." "Okay," Daniel whispered back, "but how can you show me something if I'm not looking?" "You'll find out," chuckled Sue, "now shut those eyes please." Daniel closed his eyes as Sue said as she closed her eyes as well and puckered up her lips. However, Daniel quickly opened his eyes and said, "Wait, we're all alone? Where are the others?! They should all be right here with us!" "Do you think they got trapped in the Portal," asked Sue. "No," said Daniel, "I think we came out of the **wrong** Portal. Just look around us!" The two surveyed their surroundings to see that they weren't in Ricky's entertainment room, as the walls were red instead of white, the furniture was made of 100% leather, and the TV was twice the size of Ricky's. "I don't think we're in Drago anymore Sue," said Daniel. Suddenly, the double doors leading out of the room opened, and a familiar figure wearing a black suit and purple tie stood in the doorway. It was Hank Zimmerman, the legendary founder and CEO of Petrichor. Daniel and Sue stood motionless as Hank stared at them with a raised eyebrow. "Daniel? Sue? What are you doing here?"


	10. Chapter 9 - Have a Seat

**Chapter 9 – Have a Seat**

Daniel and Sue just stood there motionless and didn't say a word as Hank scratched his head with a raised eyebrow. Just as Sue stepped forward and was about to speak up, all three of them heard a car horn honking outside to see a yellow taxi cab parked outside. "It's okay," shouted the driver, "I brought them here, and you left the door wide open when we arrived!" "I guess I did leave the door open didn't I," asked Hank, "Alright then, just keep it running, we'll be down in a few!" The driver gave a thumbs up and kept the car running. "So why **are** you two here," asked Hank to Daniel and Sue, "this is pretty far from Drago Valley, 250 miles if memory serves me correctly. If you two were heading for Asemetro City, you still have about another 50 miles to go. Although I highly don't recommend too many of the hotels there." Sue raised her left index finger and interrupted Hank by saying, "Actually sir, we have a few things we wanna ask you." Daniel then pulled Sue by the arm and turned her around whispering into her ear, "Uhhh… Sue… What are you doing? We're probably in enough trouble as is, so why not just make a dash for the cab?" "Well the Portal probably dropped us here for a reason," whispered Sue, "so maybe we're supposed to ask Mr. Zimmerman for important advice or something like that. Besides, we may never get this opportunity again." Suddenly, a honking sound could be heard from the cab again as the driver shouted, "So you guys coming down or what?! I don't have all night you know!" "Keep your panties on," yelled Sue, "we'll be down in a second!"

"Please take a seat," said Hank, "feel free to ask me anything you want." "Well for starters," said Sue with a grin on her face, "what's in the box?" "Excuse me," asked Hank with both of his eyebrows raised. "What's in the freaking box," asked Sue as she pointed to a cardboard box filled with mysterious looking artifacts sitting in the corner of the room. "Oh these are just a bunch of old relics and treasures that I've unearthed over the years. Ranging from an old snow globe with real snow inside of it, a painting believed to be a historic artifact from the Titanic, and this jar of pencil shavings. Yes, that is literally a jar full of pencil shavings." "These are all very nice, except probably the pencil shavings," said Sue, "but what's up with that creepy colorless mask at the bottom of the pile?" Hank pulled out the pale colored mask and showed it to the duo. "To be totally honest with you, I have no idea what this is or even where it originated from. I got it in the mail a couple of months ago from an 'anonymous supporter'. I tried it on a couple of times just for fun, but it got old really quick and now it just sits in the corner and collects dust. And call me crazy, but I think it's watching me sometimes. Talk about a wild imagination, am I right?" "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah," replied Daniel and Sue at the same time. Hank put the mask back in the box and asked the two if they had any more questions. "How rich are you," asked Sue. "I'm definitely not the richest man on the planet," answered Hank, "but I'd say I'm worth at least 5.5 billion; that's according to Wikipedia at least." "What's what the Portal of Power," asked Sue, "I didn't think someone like you would be into _Skylanders_." "Not exactly," answered Hank, "but my daughter seems to like them a lot." Sue raised her eyebrow and replied, "You have a daughter?" "Yeah," said Daniel, "I guess I forgot to mention that earlier."

"Any day now," exclaimed the cabbie. "I promise we'll be down in a few more minutes," exclaimed Daniel. "You still haven't asked me any questions Daniel," said Hank, "isn't there anything you'd like to know." Daniel looked down at his feet, back up at Hank, then looked Sue in the eyes, and finally turned his head back in Hank's direction before finally saying, "Well there is one thing that's on my mind, but I'm not sure you'd be able to help me with it." "This is about William again isn't it," asked Hank. Sue placed her arm around Daniel as the latter nodded his head up and down. Hank looked down at the ground for a split second and fixed his eyes back on Daniel and Sue before saying, "Actually, I think I might have something that might interest you. Please wait here, I'll be right back." Daniel and Sue waiting on the sofa for Hank to return as Daniel stretched and placed his arm around Sue, with both of them smiling lovingly at one another. Before either of them could say anything, they heard footsteps getting closer and closer to the room and they quickly let go of each other, with both of them blushing until Hank finally walked in the room with a white lab coat and a silver watch. "These belonged to your father," said Hank, "they're the last things I was able to salvage from his lab after he disappeared. I've been holding onto them to remember him by, but I think you deserve these more than anyone else." Daniel smiled and put on the watch and the lab coat. "You look just like him," said Hank with a grin on his face, "y'know excluding the white hair. Speaking of which, how **do** you have white hair at such a young age; that does not look like hair dye." Daniel smirked and said, "Now it's **my** turn to answer something? Okay, here goes nothing. When I was younger, I had fallen seriously ill due to an unknown disease that was slowly eating me from the inside." "Yes," interrupted Hank, "it all makes sense now. Your father was pleading me for months to help him with his research to develop a cure; I agreed to help him, but he never told me what he was trying to develop it for." "Bingo," continued Daniel, "and long story short, I wake up in a hospital bed with my uncle by my side and a nurse telling me that my father had found a cure. My uncle told me that my father was waiting for us back home, but when we finally arrived back home from the hospital he was nowhere to be found. We even set out a search party for him, but with no luck. A week later, I woke up to find that most of my hair had somehow turned completely white overnight, and man you should've seen the reaction on my uncle's face. Eventually, all my hair had turned completely white; even my eyebrows had turned white. And that's how it's been ever since." "I had no idea Daniel," said Hank, "but listen, if you ever need anything, just give me a call." Hank then handed Daniel a business card from out of his pocket with his cell phone number and email address on it. "Thanks for everything Hank," said Daniel with a large smile on his face, "we'll be sure to keep in touch."

"Okay, I'm really starting to lose my patience," yelled the cabbie, "it's really cold out here!" "I guess we better go before Sir Nags-a-Lot ditches us," smirked Sue. "It was nice meeting you Hank, again," chuckled Daniel. "Likewise Cooper," replied Hank, "have a goodnight you two and save travels." As soon as Daniel and Sue got in the taxi and took off, Hank pulled out his phone and started talking to a person in his list of contacts that simply read 'O' and began to type a text. "They have unlocked the door. The card is tracking their every move. We'll soon be ready to strike." Meanwhile, while on the road the cabbie said to Daniel and Sue, "I'm sorry for almost snapping back there, but I have a test to take tomorrow morning and I would very much like to be prepared for it." "No problem Mr. AdamGregory03," said Daniel. "How did you know my name," asked the cabbie. "I read your nametag when we got into the cab," answered Daniel. "Okay," replied Adam, "that's **much** less creepy." "Speaking of creepy," added Sue, "how did you know we were in Mr. Zimmerman's mansion and how do you know we're from Drago Valley?" "We have our ways," muttered Adam. "Who's 'we'," replied Sue in a suspicious tone. "Crap, I've said too much," muttered Adam, "sorry about this guys." Adam then pushed a button on the dashboard that sent out a powerful electric shock through the back seats of the cab, electrocuting the duo and knocking them unconscious.

Daniel and Sue later awoke to find themselves unharmed and in front of Ricky's mansion just as the sun was beginning to rise. Sue stood up furiously about what occurred the previous night with the cabbie, but was quickly calmed down when she realized Daniel was smiling. "Are you seriously happy that some big-boned part-time cabbie just electrocuted the crap out of us," asked Sue with a raised eyebrow. "Of course not," chuckled Daniel, "I'm happy because it feels like a part of me that's been missing for a long time has finally come back. I know he's still out there somewhere, and I won't rest until I find him." Daniel then looked directly at Sue and asked, "Now what was it you wanted to show me last night?" "Ah yes," said Sue, "now close your eyes. Don't wanna ruin the surprise now do we?" Daniel closed his eyes while unknowing to him, Sue closed her eyes as well and once again began to pucker her lips. However, the kiss was once again interrupted, this time by Summer and Oliver who had just opened the mansion's front doors. "Young Daniel," said Oliver, "we thought we heard somebody out here. We're sorry to interrupt you and Sue but we need your help." "Help with what," asked Daniel, "and where are Brad, Wordsworth, Ricky, and the others?" "That's just it," said Summer in a troubled voice, "we can't find them anywhere! They're just… gone…" Daniel and Sue then looked at each other out of pure shock and muttered, "Oh no…"


	11. Chapter 10 - A New Guest

**Chapter 10 – A New Guest**

"What do you mean they're just gone," asked Sue with a concerned voice. "Do you need a cue tip," asked Summer in a sarcastic manner, "none of them are here." "Slow down Summer," said Daniel in a calm and soothing voice, "just start from the beginning." Summer closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then exhaled before looking back at Daniel and Sue. "Alright, after I left the mansion I went to Uncle Merle's Diner to get a salad and a diet Pepsi, then I went over to Richard's Lyrics to work the register." "That's Wordsworth's father's store isn't it," asked Daniel. "Yes," answered Summer, "but that's not the point." "Why **do** you work there again Master Summer?" interrupted Oliver, "Your family is insanely rich, you shouldn't have to work." Summer sighed and replied, "Can't a girl keep an eye on her man? Anyway, we're still off-topic. I had arrived at the shop to work the register and helped Richard rearrange some records for about an hour or so. When 10:00 rolled around I said goodnight to Richard and came back here. When I got out of the Lambo and got to the doors, I saw a flash of neon colors and I really don't remember what happened after that. The next thing I know, I was in my room with an ice pack on my forehead; Oliver said he found me passed out on the stairs and brought me inside. I thought I was only out for a few minutes, but it was sunrise and I couldn't find Wordsworth or my brother anywhere. I tried calling both of their phones and neither of them picked up. Thank God you two are still here, we need your help to find Wordsworth." "What about the others ma'am," asked Oliver. "What about them," asked Summer with a raised eyebrow. Just then, everyone heard a loud crashing sound coming from upstairs, and the group decided to investigate.

To their surprise, they found Wordsworth in the entertainment room sitting upside down in a beanbag chair. "Hey Daniel," said Wordsworth, "am I glad to be back here dude. That BC was so rude." Summer ran to Wordsworth's side to embrace him and then raised an eyebrow asking him, "Wait, who's BC? Wordsy, are you cheating on me?!" "Of course not," replied Wordsworth, "I got teleported into some random bedroom and the next thing I know, I was getting yelled at by some guy named BC. He had a mouth, he swore every five seconds; seriously, he swore every five seconds, I timed it." "Wait," said Summer with both of her eyebrows raised, "did you just say you were teleported?" "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeah," said Sue, "it's a long story." Before anyone could say anything else, Ricky's Portal of Power spat out Brad who landed directly on top of Wordsworth and Summer. "Finally," exclaimed Brad, "I'm home!" "You have two seconds to get your hand off my chest," grunted Summer. Brad did as Summer said and remarked, "So those monsters **are** real." Summer turned red and growled as Oliver told Daniel and Sue, "You might wanna duck." The three of them got down on the ground just as Brad was sent flying across the room and collided into Yurei just as he came out of the Portal of Power. "Will you ever stop getting on her bad side Brad," asked Yurei. Brad straightened out his headband before asking Yurei, "How did you know what just happened?" "It's written all over your face," answered Yurei, "and why else would you be flying like a knock-off Superman?" Oliver and Summer remained silent with their eyes wide open just as Mike came through the Portal, followed by Miles, then Ricky, and finally Clay, who landed on top of all three of them. "Good God mate," said Mike, "I knew you were as strong as an ox, but I didn't think you were as heavy as one." Clay got up and helped his friends up just as Miles got up and punched Mike in the face exclaiming, "You must think you're real funny huh Mike?! I got teleported into the freaking Northeast during the middle of a blizzard. It's pretty hard to stay warm when all you have on is a beanie, a green T-shirt, cargo shorts, and tennis shoes. I'm lucky that some Blind guy let me in his house, and I'm really lucky he happened to have a Portal of Power." "A blind dude just let you in his house," asked Ricky. "No, his name was Blind," said Miles. "My bad mate," said Mike, "didn't mean for that to happen, but it could have been worse y'know. I ended up in me homeland of Australia, and I woke up surrounded by a pack of wild dingoes; I was able to fend them off, but then I got attacked by a Tasmanian devil who ate all the beef jerky I had in me back pocket. I spent at least three hours living off of the natural resources of the wild, trying to find any kind of civilization. Eventually, I found an EB Games and I ran into a good mate named Poseidon, who was picking up a combo pack of Boom Jet and Night Shift. He saw that I was in a pretty rough shape and invited me to his house. After beating him in a few rounds of Battle Mode, I told him I was heading back home and I used the Portal when he wasn't looking to zap meself right back here." "Fascinating," said Miles, "but you're not off the hook just yet. What about you Yurei?" "I think I ended up in Southeast Asia or something," answered Yurei, "because I felt pretty close to home. I ran into a guy who calls himself Otaku and I'm sure you already know what came next." "I think I ended up in Southeast Asia too," said Clay, "more specifically, I was in Malaysia. I helped a nice guy named Azran change his flat tire. He let me in his home, I helped him take down the Fire Viper and then I helped him film a live-action _MLP_ video. Never thought I'd meet a fellow Brony." "I don't know this Azran character," said Brad, "but I dislike him already." "Everyone is allowed to their own opinions man," remarked Clay. "So what's your story Ricky," asked Wordsworth. "Two words," said Ricky, "Playboy… mansion…" Mike fist-bumped Ricky as Brad took a more careful look at Daniel and asked, "What's with the lab coat and the silver watch?" "They were my dad's," said Daniel, "I got them from Mr. Zimmerman last night after me and Sue accidently got teleported there." Brad then replied, "Coincidence? I think not."

Summer and Oliver looked at each other in silence until Summer asked, "Can someone please tell us what's going on?" Daniel explained what had occurred the previous night as there was a knock at the front door; Oliver opened the door to find a beautiful woman with curly red hair standing in front of him. Daniel came to the door and was stopped by the woman. "Good morning Daniel, you probably remember me from yesterday. I'm Sarah Jones, Mr. Zimmerman's VP and he has instructed me to spend the next two weeks here in Drago Valley." "But why," asked Sue who had walked up to the door, "doesn't he need you in Asemetro or something?" Sarah laughed and replied, "Well aren't we curious? Mr. Zimmerman wants me to spend the next two weeks as a special guest at Ramses Academy to see who shall receive the honor of receiving the VIP tour of Petrichor HQ this spring." "I guess that makes sense," said Sue, "but he kinda picked a wrong time to do this because our school's homecoming dance is in two weeks." "Speaking of which," said Summer coming down the stairs, "we still need to set up preparations for the dance. Wordsworth, we need to do a little shopping, and pick up my Lara Croft costume." "Lara Croft," chuckled Sarah. "This year's dance is video game themed," replied Summer, "so for me it was either Lara Croft or Rainbow Mika, and I'm pretty sure I'd get expelled if I cosplay as Mika. C'mon Wordsy, let's go." Summer and Wordsworth got into the Lambo and sped off, heading to the town square to pick up any needed supplies.

"Well mates," said Mike, "I don't know about the rest of you, but it's time for me to hit the hay." "Same man," added Clay stretching out his arms, "we have been up all night and we could use some shut eye. C'mon Yurei, let's go." Mike, Clay, and Yurei left the mansion with Clay carrying Miles, who had already fallen asleep. "Speaking of the dance," said Daniel, "do you have a partner Sue?" Sue blushed and replied, "You mean… like a date?" "Yeah," answered Daniel. Before Sue could respond, Sarah walked up to the two with a tablet saying, "I believe you have a call." Just then, Hank appeared on the screen riding in the back of his limo. "Morning gang," said Hank with a smile on his face, "glad to see you made it back home in one piece. I've got some business to handle in Asemetro, one of our latest projects just went awry and I'm going to personally make sure the problem is fixed. In the meantime, I'm sure Sarah has already told you that she will be staying in Drago Valley temporarily under my orders. Keep an eye on her for me, don't need her getting into trouble." Sarah chuckled and replied, "Good one sir." "I wasn't joking," replied Hank, "and you kids stay out of trouble as well. I got another call, talk to you all later; nice to see you again Daniel." Hank then ended the call as Sarah looked at Ricky and asked, "So where do I sleep?" "This way ma'am," said Oliver, "the guest bedroom is right down this hall." "I'm going to bed," said Ricky to his friends, "later dudes; see you in a couple pf hours." "So Sue," said Daniel, "you never told me if you have a date for the dance." Sue slightly blushed and replied, "I don't know yet." "Oh well then, did you wanna head over to Uncle Merle's? Maybe I can buy you a smoothie or something?" "I guess that works," said Sue. The duo walked out of the mansion and headed to town with Daniel thinking to himself, "So close…"

Meanwhile, Oliver had finished bringing the rest of Sarah's bags to the guest room with Sarah commenting, " **This** is the guest room? This is **much** better than I was expecting to be totally honest with you." Oliver then handed Sarah a mint and exited the room. Sarah then pulled out her tablet just as Hank called again. "Keep an eye on them," said Hank, "I want to know everything that they're up to and more importantly, **when** they're doing it." "I'm on it sweetheart," said Sarah, "but I must ask, why can't you be the one to do this?" "I have my reasons," replied Hank, "and you have your disguise in case you need it. Keep a low profile and keep me updated." The call ended as Sarah started sucking on her mint, "Mmmm… spearmint…"


	12. Chapter 11 - Uncle Merle's

**Chapter 11 – Uncle Merle's**

After twenty minutes of walking, Daniel and Sue arrived in the town square. The town square consisted of a three-story courthouse, several shops including Richard's Lyrics, and a large park with a fountain in the center of it. Daniel, looking up at an eagle soaring through the sky, walks out in front of an oncoming semi-trailer truck. The driver slams on the brakes and honks his horn five times to get Daniel's attention; Sue, seeing Daniel in danger, reacts quickly and tackles Daniel onto the sidewalk and out of the way of the truck. "Talk about déjà vu, huh Sue?" asked Daniel with a grin on his face. "You're welcome," said Sue. Just then, the trucker got out of the semi and ran towards the two. "Sorry girly," said the trucker in a county accent, "didn't mean to startle y'all like that, but your little boyfriend really needs to pay attention to where in tarnations he's going." Sue got on her feet and replied, "Sorry about that, Misterrrrrrrrr…" "Norris," said the trucker," Truck Norris, the best truck driver this side of the western states." "Chuck Norris wanabe much?" whispered Daniel to Sue. "I heard that sonny," said Truck Norris, "but that lunatic Chuck Norris ain't got nothing on me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to deliver some Petrichor electronics to Ramses Academy. Some Jones woman says it's for the school's computer lab or something like that. Anyway, have fun, stay out of trouble, and please look both ways before crossing the street next time boy." Truck Norris then got back into his semi and drove off. Sue knocked some dust out of Daniel's head and asked, "Are you alright D?" "Yeah," replied Daniel, "I just got distracted. Thanks for the save Sue." "Anything for you D," said Sue with a smile on her face. The two continued walking down the sidewalk until Daniel said, "I just realized something Sue. When Wannabe Norris called me your boyfriend, you didn't say otherwise." Sue then starting sweating really hard and slowly started to turn red with embarrassment; Sue then saw Uncle Merle's Diner right down the street and exclaimed, "There it is, race ya!" Sue took off running and left Daniel in the dust. Daniel smirked, rolled his eyes and said, "One of these days Sue," before speeding off after Sue.

Once inside the diner, the two friends sat down at an open booth and Daniel asked a nearby waitress to bring them two strawberry-mango smoothies. Afterwards, Sue started to awkwardly rub her hands together while Daniel kept looking at Sue only to immediately turn away and look out the window whenever Sue looked back in his direction. "Sooooooooooo," said Daniel, "about the whole, homecoming dance… thing… I was wondering…" "If she should go with me?" asked someone in the booth behind them in a smug voice. "Oh my God," muttered Sue, "please tell me that isn't who I think it is." The person in the booth then looked over the booth and said, "Yes my dear, 'tis I, Josh the Awesome." "Okay, first of all," said Sue trying not to laugh, "I am **not** your 'dear'. Second of all, who refers to themselves as 'the Awesome'?" "That's besides the point," said Josh in a cocky manner, "I'm here to sweep you off your feet my fair lady." "Wooooooooooooooow," said a sarcastic Sue, "you've been reading too many fairy tales dude." Josh started to lose his patience and quickly said, "Be my date to the dance Sue." Sue simply chuckled and responded, "The day I'd go out with a self-entitled ass like you is the day Donald Trump pays back his taxes, but we all know that's not gonna happen." Josh then grabbed Sue by the wrist and growled, "Please Sue, I'll be everything you've ever dreamed of. I'll show you that I'm the one you really want." Sue tried to break free of Josh's grasp as she said, "I already know who I want, and it sure as hell isn't you." "Yes, it is," said Josh, "you and me were destined to be. We were destined to go to this dance together. We were destined to spend the rest of our lives together." "You were destined to get a black eye," said Daniel. Josh then looked at Daniel as Daniel punched him in the mouth, causing one of his teeth to fall out. "Or lose a tooth," smirked Daniel, "whatever works." Josh, screaming in pain, let go of Sue and the latter punched very hard in his left eye. "Takes notes D," said Sue, " **that's** how you give someone a black eye." Just as Josh was about to get up, Kevin Merle, the owner of Uncle Merle's, grabbed Josh by the arm and told all three teens to exit the diner immediately. Merle stood at 6'1'', and wore a white and blue uniform with his diner's logo on the front of it. "The three of you are banned from this diner for the next week," said Merle in an angry tone, "I don't need your pity rivalries destroying my families' legacy." "Sorry about that Mr. Merle," said Daniel, "we promise we won't let it happen again." "Wait," said Sue, "you mean your reputation wasn't destroyed when you tried to feed people those lizard guts and tried to pass it off as 'a new line of chicken meat'?" Merle grunted at Sue and simply said, "Just stay away from this place for the next seven days before I… HEY YOU!" Merle pointed at a mysterious figure wearing a midnight blue hoodie spray painting the side of his car; Merle started chasing after the stranger, but quickly lost him as the latter coasted away on a skateboard. "That little punk," exclaimed Merle, "vandalizing a man's property like that!" The message spray painted on the car read "You've been Draco'd" in black and blue. "Draco," muttered Sue, "why does that name sound so familiar?" "I gotta call the authorities and report an act of vandalism," said Merle, "in the meantime, please stay away from this diner." Merle then reentered the diner with his head tilted down. Josh finally got up on his feet and said, "This isn't over, you'll regret this Sue." Josh then ran away into the town square and out of sight. "Nice punch Sue," said Daniel, "I've never seen you lay into anyone like that before." "Thanks," said Sue, "I guess you can say I learned that from my father." Daniel's smartphone then began to ring and he answered it; to his surprise, he heard Spyro's voice on the other end. "Daniel, I need you to gather the others and head back to the Citadel." "How are you even talking to me right now?" asked Daniel. "No time to explain," said Spyro in a raised tone, "just hurry, it's an emergency!" "Alright, you heard the dragon," said Daniel, "let's go to my house and use my Portal of Power." "Alright," replied Sue, "I'll call the others and get them up to speed."


	13. Chapter 12 - Doom

**Chapter 12 – Doom**

Ten minutes passed and Sue and Daniel made it to the latter's house to use his Portal of Power in order to teleport themselves to Skylands. At the front door, they were greeted by Jack, Daniel's uncle who has served as his guardian after the death of his mother and the disappearance of his father. "Hey Daniel," said Jack, "I just got a call from Kevin Merle saying that you and Sue got into a brawl with that Josh punk." "Please don't get mad at him," interrupted Sue, "it was kinda my fault and Danny was just standing up for me." "I'm not mad at him," said Jack, "I was about to congratulate him!" Daniel and Sue looked at Jack and asked him, "Say what now?" Jack chuckled and said, "You got in your first fight my boy, that's like scoring your first touchdown in a game of football. Not to mention, you **won** in your first fight! That's like scoring a touchdown all the way from the end zone!" "Awesome," said Daniel, "at least I'm not grounded." "Heck no," smirked Jack, "you're still grounded. You gotta take responsibilities for your actions. Besides, I'm pretty sure your dad wouldn't approve of you getting into fights." "Fair enough," muttered Daniel, "can we at least go to my room and play the Wii?" "Sure thing," said Jack, "knock yourselves out." "Thanks uncle," said Daniel, "c'mon Sue let's get to it."

The duo made it to Daniel's bedroom and turned on his Wii and Portal of Power to meet up with Spyro and the others. "Alright," said Sue, "I just got texts from the others and it looks like they're ready to go." "Let's do this," said Daniel as he and Sue touched the center of the Portal and were teleported away. As the two of them flew through the Portal Network, Daniel began to see flashing images of a man wearing a mask, a large man wearing a black fedora, the letter O, and what appeared to be a giant hole opening in the sky. Daniel looked over at Sue and asked her, "You saw that too, right?" Before Sue could answer, she had passed out just as the Portal's exit was coming up. Daniel also started to fall unconscious and muttered to himself, "What does it all mean?" Daniel then passed out as the two of them had reached the end of the pathway.

The two woke up a few moments later and looked around to find themselves in a foggy wasteland. "You wanna tell me where we are D?" asked Sue. "I have no idea," he replied, "this area doesn't look familiar to me." Just then, they heard footsteps coming in their direction and Sue picked up a nearby stone and threw it at the potential threat. "Ouch," moaned a young man with an Australian accent. It was later revealed to be Mike simply approaching his two friends. "Holy crap Shelia," said Mike rubbing his forehead, "I was just trying to regroup with me good mates!" "Sorry Mike," said an embarrassed Sue, "I thought you were someone else." "No worries," replied Mike still rubbing his head, "it'll take more than a puny rock to take down a skilled hunter such as meself. Speaking of which, I brought me huntin' gear with me this time. I need something to defend meself just in case things turn blue. Who knows, maybe me elemental abilities will kick in this time?" Just then, Mike heard a tiny creak coming from about 50 feet behind him; not wanting to take any chances, he quickly made a 180 degree turn and fired an arrow at the oncoming intruder. "What the heck are you shooting at?" asked Daniel with a raised eyebrow. "Something was coming up from behind me mate," answered Mike, "and normally I don't shoot first and ask questions later, but we're in the middle of nowhere and we don't need anyone getting hurt." "I'm impressed," said Sue, "the dude could hear them from that far away. Wouldn't you want to fire more than one arrow though?" "No need to," said Mike, "I only need one good shot, because I never miss." Before anyone could say anything else, Mike jumped and screamed in terror as he felt a cold hand touch his shoulder. "You missed," said Yurei holding Mike's arrow. Everyone stood in complete silence before Mike stuttered, "H-H-How d-d-did you-." "I see everything," interrupted Yurei, "remember?" "Is it because of that scar over your right eye?" asked a voice in the distance. Sue turned to her right and said, "That sounds like Wordsworth. Over here bro!" Mike could hear Wordsworth's distant footsteps and said, "This dipstick is walking in the wrong direction." Daniel then shouted, "Wordsworth, walk to your left!" "He's still going the wrong way," said Yurei. Sue rolled her eyes and exclaimed, "No, your other left!" "What the hell," said Mike, "now I hear him walking sideways." "I'll get him," said Yurei. As Yurei left to go find Wordsworth, the group saw four silhouettes walking towards them and braced themselves for an attack. However, it was simply Brad, Ricky, Miles, and Clay reuniting with their friends. "G'day mates," said Mike, "what brings you all here?" Ricky rolled his eyes and replied, "What do you think dude? We're here because Sue sent out a mass text telling everyone to come to Skylands." "By the way," said Miles, "why **are** we here guys?" "I got a call from Spyro saying ne needed us back at the Citadel." "Correct me if I'm wrong," interrupted Clay, "but we are nowhere near the Citadel man." "Where are we anyway?" asked Brad straightening his headband. "I think we might have an idea," said Yurei, "follow the sound of my voice." The group followed the sound of Yurei's voice until they found Yurei and Wordsworth leaning down on the edge of a cliff staring into the direction of a floating fortress. "Hey guys," whispered Daniel, "doesn't that look like Kaos' flying fortress?" "Yeah, but I thought the Skylanders blew it up after they banished him to Earth," added Miles. "He obviously must have rebuilt it," said Brad, "either that or we've traveled back in time." "We must be in the Outlands," said Yurei squinting his eyes. "I've got a really bad feeling about this mates," said Mike in a troubled tone, "we should probably rack off before-." Before Mike could finish his sentence, the ground beneath them eroded away and the bit of land the group was standing on proceeded to slide down the cliff. Everyone yelled out in fear except for Ricky, who proceeded to exclaim, "Surf's up dudes!" Suddenly, Daniel's eyes began to glow white as he said, "Clay, steer us down safely." "Clay's body started to glow in a brown aura and his eyes glowed brown as he grabbed ahold of the sliding earth they were standing on, and moved it from side to side while dodging everything in their way. Miles got hit in the face with some pebbles and even got a little soil in his mouth on the way down. After a wild and bumpy ride, the team made it to the bottom of the mountain in one piece, and Miles proceeded to spit the dirt out of his mouth. "Now that's what I call off-roading," chuckled Wordsworth. "I don't get it dude," said Ricky with a confused look on his face.

The Elite Masters slowly approached Kaos' flying fortress, as Mike used his hunting and tracking skills to direct the group around the spotlights and traps Kaos had installed around the area. "Again," said Sue, "how are you so good at this? Are you part wolf or something?" "Nope," answered Mike, "but I did live among a pack of dingoes when I was 10, which is kinda ironic now that I think about it. As an expert hunter and tracker, I always have this sixth sense when something isn't right or when I know for certain that someone is out to get us. In this case, it would probably be Kaos." "You think he knows about us and the legend of the Elite Masters?" asked Miles picking soil particles from his teeth. "It's very likely," answered Brad, "considering the fact that my GPS tracker is going off the charts right now. That can only mean that Minotaur is here and he's likely told Kaos everything he knows." "Well I hope he knows we're here to rearrange his ugly head," said Sue in a confident tone. "Technically, that's not what we came for," remarked Yurei with a blank face, "but that works too." "Or," said Brad, "we could just sneak into Kaos' evil fortress undetected and use his Portal of Power to try and teleport ourselves to the Citadel without resorting to violence." "That could work too," said Wordsworth. "But where's the fun in that mate?" asked Mike readying his bow and arrow. Mike was about to make a dash for the fortress when suddenly, the group heard a thud come from behind them. To their surprise, Miles had fallen asleep as he was still exhausted from the previous night. "On second thought," said a yawning Mike, "I guess we don't exactly have the energy to kick some freckle right now." "Exactly," said Brad, "so let's just quietly sneak into the fortress and… HEY!" Wordsworth pulled nine gummies out of Brad's backpack and handed them to everyone. "I think Brad called these Espresso Drops; these things contain a full cup of coffee inside them. Should be enough to keep us going." "How did you know about that?" asked a slightly annoyed Brad. "When Mr. Zimmerman gave us a ride in his limo the other day, I heard you whispering to yourself how you were impressed by how the gummy he gave Rick was very impressive, and so you wanted to create something similar." "I really have to stop thinking to myself out loud," muttered Brad. Everyone then swallowed their gummies, and Wordsworth dropped one down the mouth of the unconscious Miles, although it was clear none of them found the flavor to be even slightly tasty. "That's… umm… rather strong," choked Wordsworth. "I see where you're going with this," said Yurei, "but maybe putting coffee in a gummy wasn't the best of ideas." "I think you just ruined coffee for me mate," muttered Mike. "I think I preferred eating the dirt," said an awoken Miles. "It's still a work-in-progress," said Brad straightening his glasses.

As the group got closer to the fortress, the air started to get colder, the skies started to get darker, and the pebbles on the ground started to violently shake up and down all by themselves. "Get ready," said Daniel in a serious tone, "it's time to fight our way in." "I still think this is a very bad idea," said a nervous Brad, "but I guess I'll go along with the pack." "That's the ticket mate," said Mike, "I just hope you have something useful in that fanny pack of yours. By the way, why **do** you have a fanny pack?" Brad was about to answer Brad's question when suddenly, Mike heard something loud coming from the distance. "Heads up mates," said Mike preparing to fire an arrow, "there's something headed our way for real this time, and it sounds big." "Think it's Minotaur?" asked Daniel. Yurei stared out in the direction Mike was looking and replied, "It's not Minotaur, but it is pretty big." Everyone then began to hear loud footsteps, meaning that whatever it was was getting closer and closer to them. "Here it comes," said Mike and Yurei simultaneously. The team prepared for battle as the entity finally emerged from the shadows. To everyone's surprise though, it was just a Chompy. Sue giggled and said, "A Chompy? That doesn't seem so big and scary to me guys. I mean, it does have really sharp teeth, but I wouldn't really call that a threat." "It's so cute," added Miles, "can I keep it?" However, the Chompy then burrowed underground in a state of panic. "I guess that's a 'No'," chuckled Ricky. "That's not why it ran off," said Yurei. "And that ain't the big thing we were talking about mates," added Mike. A second later, an enormous repitilia beast stood directly in front of the group, with the silhouettes of four heads moving in the dust clouds above them. "Please tell me that's not what I think it is," said Brad in shock. The four heads then immediately darted down to the group and gave out a loud and terrifying roar. "It's what I think it is!" exclaimed a horrified Brad. It was the Hydra, Kaos' pet four-headed dragon who had destroyed the Core of Light two years prior. "I didn't think this thing was still active," said Wordsworth. "You don't think at all dude," remarked Ricky. "I don't think I have enough arrows for this one mates," said Mike, "any ideas?" Brad walked forward and said, "As the brains of the group, I believe what we must do is super obvious. It's so obvious in fact, that even Wordsworth could accomplish this with ease." Brad was then hit in the stomach by a rock thrown by Wordsworth, which Sue and Miles found slightly amusing. "Of course," said Daniel, "we have to try and find its weak spots. Nice thinking Brad." Brad started scratching the back of his head before saying, "To be totally honest, I was gonna say run away and not get eaten alive, but that's even better idea I suppose." "I got this mates," said Mike shooting four arrows at once, "one arrow for each hideous head." The Hydra counterattacked by using its Fire-elemental powers to burn the arrows at the last second. "Well that didn't work," muttered Mike. "You don't say," replied Sue. The monster then prepared a large ball of fire to incinerate the Elite Masters. Wordsworth ran in front of everyone just as the beast was about to attack. "Hey ugly," he shouted, "if you wanna burn something, then burn me!" The Hydra then focused solely on Wordsworth and unleased the full power of its fireball. "Uhhh… is it too late to say sorry?" asked Wordsworth. Wordsworth was then consumed by the fireball as the Hydra once again gave out a loud roar. However, the fireball began to shrink until it was reduced to nothing and Wordsworth stood unharmed by the flames. Wordsworth grinned and shouted, "Sorry that I'm about to whoop that booty?!" Wordsworth then unleashed all of the fire he had absorbed in one huge blast against the Hydra, causing damage to all of its heads excluding the Fire-elemental one. With the creature in pain, Mike saw an opportunity to take another strike at the creature saying, "Nice one mate, but I'll take it from here." Mike, with his eyes glowing with a light blue hue, prepared another arrow and aimed it at the mouth of the Fire Hydra head while muttering, "Smile you son of a-." Mike fired the arrow, which hit the head of the Fire Hydra and exploded into massive sparks of lightning. "Noice!" exclaimed Mike raising his bow into the air. "Lemme have a crack at this," said Ricky moving Mike to the side. "Let's see if any of my powers kick in," said Ricky directing his attention at the Water Hydra head. The dragon, angrier than it was before, gave out another menacing roar as it unleashed a massive tidal wave in another attempt to wipe out the heroes. "Can you swim Wordsworth?" asked Miles. "Uh-uh," replied Wordsworth. "Well I think you're about to learn," said Miles with his eyes wide open. "Hey guys," said Ricky with his eyes glowing blue, "you need to chill." Ricky then created a football made of snow with his bare hands and threw at the oncoming tidal wave, causing all of the water to freeze into a massive block of ice. "Very clever mate," said Mike, "but I told you I had it." "Yeah right," replied Ricky with a cocky smile, "you'd all be on ice with Walt Disney's head if it weren't for me." "And if it weren't for me, everyone would be suffering from the heat," added Wordsworth. "Hey idiots," shouted Sue, "in case you've forgotten, we still have a four-headed problem on our hands!" Without warning, the Undead head fired nine lasers from its mouth, one for each of the Elite Masters. Yurei, being the only one who saw the attack, transformed into a ghostly version of himself and briefly transformed the others into spirits as well, just long enough for the lasers to phase through them with no consequences. "Is this what happens when you spend all day at a graveyard?" asked Wordsworth as everyone returned to their physical forms. The Hydra, now completely filled with rage, prepared to combine all of its elemental powers in a desperate and final attempt to destroy the Elite Masters once and for all. "Oh boy," said Mike, "looks like this might be it mates." "See you in the afterlife guys," said Yurei. Daniel's entire body turned white as he looked back at his friends and smiled before saying, "We're not out of it yet." The Hydra finally unleashed its ultimate attack as Daniel flew into the air and stopped it with the lift of his left index finger. "I believe this is yours," said Daniel with his finger raised. Daniel then lowered his finger, sending the quadruple attack back at the beast. The ball of energy hit the Hydra and caused a massive explosion, severely injuring the monster and knocking it down to the ground. An exhausted Daniel then fell from the sky and was caught by a bubble created by Sue. "That was pretty intense man," said Clay, "I was beginning to think we were goners." Sue then held the unconscious Daniel in her arms with a smile on her face. "You're a lot stronger than you look D," Sue whispered to herself. "Alright guys," said Brad, "back to Plan A. Time to sneak into Kaos' lair and use his Portal of Power to get back to Earth. Once we're back home, we can rest and come back to help at the Citadel in a heartbeat. For now, let's get a move on before something worse happens." Suddenly, pellets started to rain from the sky as a voice in the distance exclaimed, "You mean worse like this fools?!" The pellets then burst open as green gas started to emerge from them. "Knock… out… gas…," muttered Brad as he and the others passed out from inhaling the chemicals.

An hour later, the group had awoken to find themselves chained in a dimly lit room and to see a familiar face in front of them. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah!" "Oh no," muttered Ricky, "not him again." "Yeah baby! It's me, Iron Will! I can't call myself Minotaur right now since you punks trashed my suit, but I will be back in action very soon!" "Iron Will," exclaimed a voice coming from outside the room, "what did I say about talking to the guests?!" "You didn't tell me anything," answered Iron Will. "I shouldn't have to," said the voice, "but to get it into your feeble mind, the rule is that no one gets to taunt the guests before me." "That high-pitched voice sounds very familiar," said Daniel. "It's **him** mates," said Mike squinting his eyebrows. The mysterious character then walked into the room through the dark doorway twenty feet away from Iron Will and the Elite Masters. It was none other than Kaos, the evil Portal Master obsessed with defeating the Skylanders and conquering all of Skylands. "Yes fools, it is I, Kaos! K-A-O-S!" "Oh boy," muttered Ricky, "we're really in for it now." "What's the matter fool," mocked Kaos, "are you scared?" "If you mean scared of that horrible breath of yours, then yes," answered Ricky. Everyone then started laughing at the top of their lungs, including Glumshanks who had just walked in the room with a cup of hot tea. "What are **you** laughing at Glumshanks?" asked an angry Kaos. A nervous Glumshanks quickly replied, "Oh… um… I was just thinking about that one time when you splashed a cup of hot tea into my face. Remember that one, sir?" "Oh yeah," chuckled Kaos, "that was pretty funny wasn't it? And here I thought you didn't have a sense of humor Glumy. In fact, I'm gonna do it again!" Kaos then grabbed the cup of tea Glumshanks was holding and threw it at the troll's face. "Ahhhhhh… Good one sir," said Glumshanks in a sarcastic tone. Kaos laughed as he ordered Glumshanks to get him another cup of tea.

"Alright chuckles," said Wordsworth, "kindly remove these chains before you get these knuckles." "I don't think so," said Kaos, "you see, Iron Will has told me all about you little Elite Losers and I can't have you fools stand in the way of my plans. Especially not after you just knocked down my poor Hydra. Which reminds me, I need to pick up some more Hydra food later on today." "You said you were going to pick up more Hydra food three months ago sir," said Glumshanks walking in the door with another cup of hot tea, "maybe that's why it's been more aggressive lately?" Kaos then threw the new cup of tea in Glumshank's face before saying, "And maybe that's why my minions kept disappearing every time I sent them to clean up the Hydra dung. Anyway, fetch me another cup Glumy." "Right away sir," muttered an annoyed Glumshanks. "Anyway," said Kaos, "as I was saying, I can't have you losers and your precious Skylosers interfering with my new plan to conquer Skylands. Seeing as how my plans to take over the Cloudbreak Islands didn't work, thanks to your stupid Skylanders, I have come up with a new diabolical scheme to get the citizens of Skylands to fear and obey me. Using my comprehensible genius and Iron Will's resources, I have constructed a new weapon capable of destroying all who get in my way, especially those good for nothing Skylanders." Just then Glumshanks walked in the room once again with a cup of hot tea. "Please continue your speech sir," said the troll, "I'll just splash myself in the face this time." Glumshanks then splashed himself in the face with the hot tea, but Kaos simply replied, "I was actually going to drink it that time Glumshanks. Now go get me another cup this instant." Glumshanks rolled his eyes and headed back downstairs to get some more hot tea. Unknown to anyone, Brad had pulled out a universal key of his own invention out of his fanny pack and began picking the lock on his chains. "Good thing Kaos was dumb enough to put all of the locks behind our bodies AND forget to take my fanny pack," Brad thought to himself, "now he won't be able to see what's going on. After I'm free, I'll just have to hold my chains up and pass my trusty Uni-Key to everyone else. It's even more convenient that Kaos was foolish enough to put all nine of us in a straight line against the wall. We'll be outta here in no time." "As I was saying," said Kaos now holding a large futuristic-looking weapon, "with the power of this… this… What's it called again?" "It's called the Supernova Cannon," answered Iron Will. "I knew that," said Kaos, "I was just trying to build some suspense for our uninvited guests." Iron Will simply replied, "Mm-hmm… Sure you were. Sure you were." "Anyway," said Kaos, "with the power of this Supernova Cannon of DOOM, I will be able to… I will be able to… Uh…" "Kaos will have the power of a thousand dying suns at his disposal," interrupted Iron Will, "and if anyone gets in his way or disobeys one of his commands, then he'll incinerate them along with everything they care about." "You did it again," said Kaos in an annoyed tone. "I'm sorry Kaos," said Iron Will, "but you were boring them to sleep." Kaos rolled his eyes and looked back at the Elite Masters. "However, this thing is untested so I don't know if it actually works. Good thing I have nine test dummies." Kaos then pointed the weapon directly at the Elite Masters with a sinister smile on his face. "So who wants to be the first volunteer?" asked Kaos. "Will it be you, fedora man?" asked Kaos aiming at Wordsworth. Wordsworth muttered to himself, "Of course the black guy gets it first. Is that cliché ever going to end?" "Or will it be you, Mr. Bad Hair Day?" asked Kaos now aiming at Brad. "Hey," said Brad squinting his eyes, "I can't help it. My hair's been like this ever since I was eight when I tried to recreate Ben Franklin's discovery of electricity." "Is that how you lost your eyebrows too?" asked Miles. "No, I told you I lost those after my homemade volcano blew up at the seventh grade science fair. Although, I probably shouldn't have used real lava." "Silence fools," yelled Kaos, "I'm still trying to figure out who should be the first test subject for my Supernova Cannon of Doom!" Kaos then looked over at Daniel and said, "Iron Will told me that you possess the spirit of the leader of these pitiful Elite Suckers, so I want to save you for last and make you watch the rest of your team suffer." Daniel then grunted and wiggled himself in his chains; Kaos and Iron Will still had yet to realize that everyone except Miles had been freed of their chains and proceeded to walk towards Sue. "I think the girl should go first," said Kaos, "the purple hair, the beautiful features, the tomboyish attitude. She reminds me so much of Roller Brawl." "I thought Roller Brawl had pink hair," interrupted Ricky. "Close enough," said Kaos, "now let's test this baby out." Sue moved her eyes to her left and looked directly at Daniel, Wordsworth, and Brad; she gave a tiny grin and winked her left eye at them as all three of them nodded their heads. "Wait," whispered Wordsworth, "why are we shaking our heads again?" "I would facepalm myself so hard if I could right now," muttered Brad to himself. "As soon as Kaos begins to charge up that weapon, we all break loose and attack," whispered Daniel to Wordsworth. "Okay," whispered Wordsworth, "but is everyone unlocked?" "Everyone except Miles," whispered Brad.

Miles had just unlocked his chains when unexpectedly, the bird that Clay had rescued earlier flew out of the latter's brown beret cap and started picking at his dreadlocks. This caused Miles to scream in pain and directed everyone's attention towards him. Miles frowned at the bird and asked, "How unlucky am I?" Kaos quickly looked at Miles with a squinting eye and said, "Hey, do you mind? I'm trying to taunt your little friend before I destroy her." The bird then bit Miles' hair again; Miles once again screamed and accidently dropped Brad's key. "Hey," said a confused Kaos, "what's going on here?" "This," said Sue as she slipped out of her chains and punched Kaos in the face. Everyone else except Miles then broke free of their chains and set their sights on the evil Portal Master. "Brad, get the weapon," ordered Daniel, "the rest of us will handle Kaos." "Aren't you forgetting something?" asked Miles still getting harassed by the bird. "Oh right," chuckled Daniel, "someone should probably take care of Miles." Kaos began charging up the Supernova Cannon, but was knocked down by one of Wordsworth's fireballs. "Feel the burn, you little turd," said Wordsworth with a cocky grin on his face. "Nice one bro," chuckled Sue, "but don't get cocky." Mike turned his attention away from Kaos and towards Iron Will, who had his bow and arrows in his possession. "You can't take me on without a weapon," chuckled Iron Will, "I'm a tank compared to you." Mike raised his left eyebrow and pulled out a machete from behind his back. "You were saying?" asked the hunter. "They're all yours," said Iron Will slowly walking away from Mike's possessions. Mike grabbed his weapons and took aim at Kaos, who was once again trying to use the Supernova Cannon on the heroes. Mike aimed at Kaos' head and fired three arrows, striking the latter in the forehead as the arrow gave off a large burst of electricity and once again knocked the evil Portal Master to the ground. However, one of the arrows missed Kaos, ricochet off the walls, and headed towards Miles just as Brad was using his Uni-Key to unlock his friend. "Of course," sighed Miles as he saw the arrow coming at them. Brad, seeing the incoming arrow, pushed Miles out of the way at the last second and a pulse of electricity unexpectedly shot out of his fingertips, destroying the arrow. However, the Uni-Key was also hit by Brad's electric power and shattered into pieces before Miles could be freed. "Now what?" asked Miles. "I got you little man," said Clay running towards Miles and Brad; Clay grabbed Miles chains and ripped them apart with his bare hands, freeing Miles. "Remind me to never get into a fight with you," said Brad, "unless I'm on your side that is." "Thanks Clay," said Miles, "but can you please get this feathered monster away from me?" Clay laughed and put the bird back in his hat.

Iron Will then grabbed his torch guns from a nearby table and fired them at his opponents. The flames almost hit Miles and Yurei, but were blocked by Wordsworth who once again absorbed the flames using his elemental powers. Yurei then pulled out three kunai knives and threw them at Iron Will in an attempt to fend off his attack. Iron Will barely dodged one of the knives, but the remaining two knives severely damaged both of his torch guns. "You'll pay for that," said the rogue Mabu as he started charging towards Yurei. Sue then tripped Iron Will and the latter was knocked unconscious as Clay picked him back up and punched him in the face. "The check's in the mail baby," mocked Sue. Just then, the Supernova Cannon had finally finished charging and Kaos took aim at Sue. "Taste the power of the sun girl," said Kaos with an evil smile as he fired the weapon. Daniel, horrified by seeing Sue in danger, ran to the latter in an effort to save her. However, Sue was saved by Yurei, who had once again used his powers to turn the two of them intangible. This caused the weapon's laser to pass harmlessly through them and hit the wall behind them, causing the wall to be completed obliterated by the blast. "I told you guys I see everything," said Yurei. "Let's see if you see **this** ," said Kaos taking aim at both Yurei and Sue. Before Kaos could fire the weapon again however, he was ambushed by a furious Wordsworth who had kicked the weapon out of his hands. "No one messes with my little sis' except me," said Wordsworth punching Kaos to the ground, "and even **I** wouldn't mess with her." "Excuse me," said Kaos down on the ground, "but you two look nothing alike." "He's not wrong mate," added Mike, "she's white and you're black, just to keep it simple." "It's a little more complicated than that Mike," said Sue scratching her head, "I might tell you about it later."

Brad snatched up the Supernova Cannon, cut off the power supply, and tossed it in his backpack. "This technology is unlike anything I've ever seen," said Brad, "if I can figure out how it works, I can put this baby to good use." Kaos got off the ground and exclaimed, "Hey, that's mine you puny little geek!" Kaos fired a blast of dark energy at Brad, but was thwarted by Daniel, who caught the ball of darkness and launched it right back at the Dark Portal Master, sending him flying into a table with Iron Will's damaged Minotaur suit on it, damaging the suit even further. "That reminds me," said Brad, "I'll be taking these torch guns. Iron Will's suit can shoot fire from its hands, so I really don't see why the dude would need that much firepower." "You're not getting away with my stuff!" exclaimed an angry Kaos running at Brad. Sue quickly grabbed one of the chains that Clay broke and struck Kaos with it, causing him to bend over in pain. Sue chuckled and muttered to herself, "This could come in handy later." Sue's eyes glowed purple, a purple aura surrounded the chain and it began to shrink, and Sue clipped it to her waist.

"Alright," said Daniel, "the bad guys are down for the count, so let's get out of here while we still have the chance." The group of friend's proceeded to Kaos' throne room to use his Portal of Power to teleport themselves back to Earth. However, the group was shocked to see that the throne room did not have a Portal of Power for them to use. "Not what glorious leader?" asked Ricky in a sarcastic voice. Daniel's eyes glowed white as he took off running into a different room. "C'mon boys," said Sue, "let's go after him." Daniel's eyes stopped glowing just as the others had followed him into an open room filled with Greeble Airships ready for launch. "I'm don't think any of us know how to fly dude," said Ricky. "Well it looks like we're gonna learn today Rick," said Sue. Everyone got into an individual Greeble Airship as Brad said, "Okay, to start these bad boys we simply need to hot wire the engines, rev up the Dark Matter reactors, cross the blue and yellow wires, and lubricate the hydraulics." Wordsworth, Ricky, Miles, and Mike all asked, "What?" "I'm just messing with you," laughed Brad, "we just need to press this bug red button in the center of the steering wheel." Miles scratched his head and asked, "How did we not notice that earlier?" The team pushed the buttons on their Airships and took off into the sky. A furious Kaos stormed into the Airship storage room stomping his feet to the ground with Glumshanks arriving shortly afterwards with another cup of hot tea. "Here's your beverage sir," said the troll, "this should calm your nerves." Kaos picked up the cup and threw the hot tea at Glumshanks face once again saying, "I guess that did calm me down a little bit, but I'm still so furious!" "Then shouldn't you be going after them sir?" asked Glumshanks wiping the hot liquid off his face. "Of course not fool," said Kaos, "I'm too stressed out to go after them right now. Besides, we don't have any Greeble Airships left." "Shall I get more hot tea then?" asked Glumshanks. "No," said Kaos, get me a phone. I'm calling in a professional bounty hunter to take care of those stupid Poser Masters, and to get my Supernova Cannon of Doom back."

"Well that was easy mates," said Mike relaxing with his hands behind his head. "You got that right," added Ricky, "we kicked the asses of a Hydra, Iron Will, **and** Kaos all in one sitting." "Not to mention we totally destroyed his place," said Sue with a grin on her face. "Changing topics," interrupted Brad, "the coordinates on these Greeble Airships are locked onto Eon's Citadel; as long as they're on auto pilot, we should get there in no time." "That's nice to know dude," said Ricky, "but seriously, these supervillains aren't so super if you ask me. We've taken on three baddies so far and they basically can't land a single hit on us. I don't think there's anything that we can't handle." "Look out!" yelled Daniel as a giant bolt of black lightning seemingly came out of nowhere and struck a small remote island the group had just flown by; the island then blew up, causing millions of stone particles to hit the airships, damaging the wings of the airships and leaving the heroes no choice but to land on another deserted island. "What the hell was that?" asked Sue with a shocked face. "Up there," said Yurei pointing at a strange masked figure floating in the sky. The mysterious figure landed on a hilltop in front of the heroes and asked in a deep and malevolent voice, "Think you can handle me?"


	14. Chapter 13 - Pale

**Chapter 13 – Pale**

Before the group stood a tall man wearing a black and purple robe, along with a mask that appeared to have no color to it whatsoever. The mysterious figure began to slowly make his way towards the group without saying a single word. "So you're not gonna say a single word, mate?" asked Mike in a negative manner. The man still said nothing as he continued to slowly walk towards the heroes. Ricky took two steps forward and said to the stranger, "You were acting all tough a minute ago dude. Aren't you gonna do something?" The man still said nothing as Brad step forward and added, "Here we were just minding our own business when all of a sudden you try to strike our aircrafts out of the sky. Technically, they weren't **our** aircrafts and you **did** knock us out of the sky, but I think you know what I'm talking about." "I'm pretty sure this is all just one big misunderstanding," said Miles in a calm tone, "and I'm pretty sure that, whoever this is, mistook us for a bunch of Greebles and thought that we were here to cause trouble. He's probably just trying to apologize, but doesn't know what to say." As soon as Miles finished his sentence, the mysterious figure teleported directly in front of him and pushed him back with a force of dark energy. Miles was sent flying nearly twenty feet backward before slamming into an oak tree. "Or… maybe he's here to kick our butts," said an injured Miles before passing out. Ricky exclaimed, "Lil' dude!" before charging at the masked man with an ice fist; the man blocked the attack by grabbing Ricky's fist and throwing him into the air. As Ricky began to fall down he proceeded to yell, "Again with this?!" He was then once again caught by Sue's magic bubble as she answered his question with, "Unfortunately…" Mike then proceeded to ready his bow and arrow, but was halted by the man, who had teleported behind him and knocked him to the ground with one swift kick to the leg. Mike screamed in pain and exclaimed, "You son of a… Ahhhhhh… I think you broke something!" "Maybe I kicked him a little too hard," the man muttered to himself. While the masked figure was focused on Mike's injury, Yurei saw an opportunity to strike his opponent down with a hand chop to the pressure points on the back of his neck. Yurei stealthily approached the man from the back and gave out the strongest chop he could deliver. "This won't hurt a bit," Yurei thought to himself, "but it's not gonna feel like a massage either." However, the man, still directing his attention to Mike, quickly caught Yurei's hand as if he saw the attack coming from a mile away. "Impossible," muttered Yurei; he turned himself intangible in order to escape the man's grasp and proceeded to once again go for the pressure points. However, the attack did nothing, as Yurei's hand simply passed through the man. "You have to remain solid to attack anyone," said the masked figure, "and you can only stay intangible for ten seconds." Immediately afterwards, Yurei turned solid just as the masked man said, "Told you." "But now I've got you," said Yurei as he threw another chop at the man. Without warning, the man disappeared without a trace, causing Yurei to hit Mike instead and knocking the latter out cold with a single chop to the neck. "Yep," said Ricky running to Yurei's side, "you totally got him."

Clay, who had yet to join in the battle, was underneath the oak tree that Miles was laying under, ensuring that his friend was out of danger; Clay then proceeded to gently pull out the bird he had in his beret, as he didn't want it to get hurt as well. "Fly away," said Clay, "fly away and get to the nearest island where you'll be safe." The bird listened to Clay and flew away, but not before biting one of Miles's dreads. "I really hope Tweety brings back some help," said a barely conscious Miles. "Why aren't you fighting Clay?" asked Miles. "Someone's gotta keep an eye on you man," answered Clay, "you're not exactly in the best shape right now. Besides, the others can beat that jerk with ease." "You sure about that?" asked Miles pointing at Yurei and Ricky laying on the ground in pain. Miles chuckled and said, "You guys might as well come lay beside me, because I know you ain't getting up after that." Wordsworth, enraged at seeing his friends getting pummeled into the dirt, started giving the masked man everything he had with a full fury of fiery blasts. The man was surprisingly able to dodge every single one of the attacks and stopped Wordsworth dead in his tracks with a spell that he seemed to conjure without having to lift a finger. "Why can't I move dude?" asked Wordsworth. "I didn't want to go over the top like I did with the rest of them," answered the man, "so I've safely paralyzed you with some magic of my own. However, I won't be able to use the spell again without unfreezing you, so I'm just gonna leave you like that for now." "You're so rude," remarked a frozen Wordsworth.

The man was then knocked down on his back when Clay grabbed a hold of the ground itself and violently shifted it from side to side. "I'm usually against violence," said Clay, "but I'll do anything to protect those in need." Clay then charged at the man and pinned him to the ground to ensure that their attacker couldn't get back up. Daniel, Sue, and Brad decided to rush to Clay's side and keep the masked villain pinned down. "Quick," said Daniel, "someone go for the mask." "Let's see who you really are punk," said Sue as she reached for the mask. However, before Sue could grab the mask, the man's eyes glowed neon purple and he pushed all four of them back with a powerful shockwave. The impact of the shockwave sent Daniel and Sue rolling through the grassy terrain, while Brad and Clay were thrown off the island and sent crashing down onto another island that happened to be floating underneath them.

"And then," said the masked man, "there were two." Sue took a good long look at the mask and tapped Daniel on the shoulder asking, "Hey D, doesn't that mask look familiar?" "Yeah," he replied, "that looks like the mask we saw at Hank's place last night. But, that can't be Hank, he should be in Asemetro City by now." "We'll see about that," remarked Sue, "let's get that mask." The masked man chuckled and simply replied, "Yeah, good luck with that." Daniel and Sue charged at the man, with the latter following suit. Sue vanished into thin air, while Daniel continued to charge at the man in another attempt to get ahold of his mask. Daniel jumped at the man and once again reached for the mask, but was once again pushed to the side with a single shockwave. Suddenly, Sue appeared behind the man, and whipped him in the back with her magic chain. "That tickled," said the man as slowly turned around and faced her, "now it's my turn." He then lifted a single finger and flicked Sue with it, sending her flying into a giant dark bubble that suddenly appeared right behind her. "Teleportation is a nice little trick," said the masked man, "and your magic bubbles are interesting as well. Of course, being of the Magic element myself, I can perform a similar attack. The only difference is the fact that this is a dark matter bubble and, as you can probably already tell, it has very negative effects on its victims." As Sue tried to punch and kick her way out of the bubble, the man snapped his fingers and the bubble proceeded to electrocute Sue. Daniel, seeing Sue in danger, angrily dashed at the masked individual with his left fist engulfed in flames and his right fist covered in a block of ice. Daniel swung his left fist first, which the man blocked at the last second, and then successfully punched him in the face with his right fist. This caused a chunk of the man's mask to break off as he fell to the ground. This also caused the dark matter bubble that Sue was trapped in to disappear, freeing her and dropping her unconscious body to the ground. Daniel quickly rushed to her side, grabbed her wrist, and checked her pulse. "Thank God," said Daniel. Just then, a blast of magic lightning struck Daniel in the back, immediately knocking him down. "You had me for a second there," said the masked man walking up behind Daniel, "but you were too concerned about your little girlfriend. You really should've just finished me off when you had the chance." A battered Daniel slowly got back on his feet as he proceeded to mutter, "W-Who… are… you?" The man picked up Daniel by his shirt collar, looked him in the eyes, and said, "Lord Pale…" Pale then proceeded to toss Daniel off the side of the island as he proceeded to fall into the clouds below. As Daniel disappeared from his view, Pale thought to himself, "What did I just do?"

Just then, a snake hit Pale and proceeded to bite his arm. Pale screamed in pain as he violently grabbed the snake and threw it to the side. Afterwards, Rattle Shake bounced onto the island and proceeded to swipe Pale's legs with his tail. Pale fell to the ground, just as a flurry of bombs seemed to rain down from above. Pale dodged most of the explosives, but was caught in the explosion of the very last one, which sent him rolling into a nearby rock. "How does **that** taste?" asked Blast Zone holding an injured Daniel in one hand. Pale got back on his feet, dusted himself off, and said, "A sneak attack? Unoriginal, but somewhat effective, I'll give you that." "You know what else is effective amigo?" asked Rattle Shake straightening out his hat. "What?" asked Pale crossing his arms. Rattle Shake pointed up to the sky as Flynn's ship appeared from behind the clouds, with the rest of the SWAP Force jumping down onto the island. Pale uncrossed his arms and said, "No wait, let me guess, a team effort?" "Got that right," said Wash Buckler pointing his sword at the masked villain, "we're about to take the wind out of your sail!" "Alright," said Pale, "let's just get this over with." Blast Zone and Boom Jet took Daniel and the others to Flynn's ship, while the rest of the team of swappable Skylanders charged at Pale, trying to coordinate as a team to take him down; from attacking him simultaneously, to swapping tops and bottoms like they usually do, the SWAP Force gave everything they had to take down Pale. The team's attacks seemed to have some effect, as Pale was noticeably being weakened and fatigued by the team's attacks. "Damn," muttered Pale, "these guys are much more experienced and coordinated than those kids. I'll have to bust out my secret weapon." Pale was then knocked down when a fully charged plasma shot from Magna Charge struck him in the stomach. "Good work everyone," said Free Ranger, "now let's see who our mystery villain is. Trap Shadow, care to do the honors?" Trap Shadow got down on one knee next to Lord Pale and grabbed his mask. Before he could pull it off, however, Pale's hand suddenly grabbed Trap Shadow's arm and his eyes flashed a bright purple as Trap Shadow took on a grayish hue and fell to the ground. Everyone was in shock of what they had just witnessed and Grilla Drilla, angered at seeing his teammate getting hurt, exclaimed, "You're gonna regret doing that, pal!" The Skylander charged at Pale and threw the hardest punch he could deliver, but his punch was effortlessly caught by Pale who then successfully drained Grilla Drilla of his colors and strength as well. "It's not pal," said the villain as Grilla Drilla collapsed to the ground, "it's **Pale**." Lord Pale then stared down the rest of the SWAP Force as he jokingly said, "Next!" "This is crazy," said Hoot Loop with a frightened look in his eyes, "I've never seen this type of magic before." "If we try to keep fighting him, then we're **all** gonna end up looking like Trap and Grilla," said Fire Kraken. Blast Zone and Boom Jet swooped down and picked up Trap Shadow and Grilla Drilla, respectively; Boom Jet proceeded to say, "I suggest we retreat and live to swap another day." "I don't think so," said Pale as he finally got back on his feet and started to charge at the Skylanders; Pale was brought to a halt however, when Blast Zone unleashed a massive wave of fire from his mouth that created a wall of fire between them and Pale. Flynn's ship then dropped down to the island and the SWAP Force climbed aboard without hesitation, flying away as fast as they possibly could. The firewall extinguished just as the group of heroes was out of danger, with Pale unable to do anything except stare them down.

Daniel, Wordsworth, Clay, and Miles, being the only conscious members of the Elite Masters, thanked the Skylanders for rescuing them. "You should really be thanking this little guy," said Free Ranger holding Clay's bird, "he flew out to this ship and wanted us to follow him." "Looks like… you're useful for something after all," muttered a barely conscious Miles. The bird then flew over to Miles and rested in the palm of his hand. "Now isn't that adorable?" asked someone coming down the steps of the deck. "Y'know, this is usually the part where I say 'BOOM!', but this isn't exactly a joyous occasion." "I recognize that voice," said Wordsworth, "that's-…" "Captain Flynn," said Flynn himself, "at your service. I've been trying to make it back to Eon's Citadel for the past for weeks, but I think my GPS is broken because I've been flying around in circles for weeks now. On the bright side, we're not too far from the Cloudbreak Islands, so I'll take you guys to Tessa and see if she can fix you up." "Thanks Flynn," said Daniel holding his stomach. "No problemo," chuckled the captain, "any friends of the Skylanders are friends of mine. Buckle up everyone, next stop, Woodburrow! I'm not kidding about the buckle up part." The ship then flew off at over 200 mph to the village of Woodburrow.


	15. Chapter 14 - Woodburrow

**Chapter 14 – Woodburrow**

Two hours later, all of the unconscious members of the team awoke to find themselves inside of a large room that seemed to be made entirely out of wood, like a lob cabin; inside were over a dozen different hospital beds, and eleven of them were occupied by the Elite Masters and two fallen Skylanders. "Welcome back to the world of the living," chuckled Miles sticking his thumb up. "Wait," gasped Mike patting his chest, "did we seriously die?" Brad grabbed a nearby icepack, placed it on his forehead, and replied, "That's just a figure of speech Mike." "Bummer," added Yurei, "it would've been awesome being a full-fledged ghost. Just imagine it, having complete freedom and not worrying about being held back down to earth by the shackles we call life." "That's deep mate," muttered Mike scratching his head. "If you guys are done talking," interrupted a limping Ricky, "can someone please explain what just happened?" "You have to talk in order to explain things," remarked Brad with a smirk on his face. Ricky muttered, "You little… You know what I mean." Sue got out of her bed and replied, "Long story short, we got our asses kicked." "Yeah," remarked Ricky, "I already know that. What I mean is,the ass kicking was done by **who**?" "I believe the correct term is **whom** ," interrupted Brad with an even bigger smirk on his face. "One more smart remark from you and I'll turn you into a human popsicle!" exclaimed Ricky in a fit of rage. Brad quickly wiped the smirk off his face and shielded himself behind Wordsworth and Clay. "Relax man," said Clay holding his hands out in front of him, "there's no need for any more violence. Let's just have a nice, friendly conversation and do our best to get to the bottom of this. Right Daniel?" Daniel said nothing as he sat in his bed and looked out a nearby window. Brad walked over to Daniel and tapped his shoulder. The latter turned his head towards Brad and the others saying, "Pale…" Everyone looked at him in confusion until Wordsworth asked him to repeat what he said. "That guy we fought, he called himself Lord Pale." Wordsworth then asked, "What did he want with us? The man came out of nowhere and plowed into us like a speeding bus." "I don't know," answered Daniel, "but I'm gonna find out." Suddenly, Trap Shadow and Grilla Drilla finally got out of their beds and walked towards the heroes. "Glad to see you two are alright," said Daniel looking at the two SWAP Force Skylanders. The two of them chuckled, with Grilla Drilla saying, "Well, we've had better days." Brad adjusted his glasses and realized that the two Skylanders were missing their color. "What happened to you guys?" he asked in a shocked tone. "That Pale creep sucked out all of our magic," answered Trap Shadow. "Yeah," continued Grilla Drilla, "and without our magic, we don't have our powers anymore either." Brad pushed his glasses back up his nose and replied with a surprised expression on his face, "Pale can do that too?! I didn't think that kind of magic even existed. Actually, until recently, I didn't think magic was real to begin with." "Yeah," said Miles with a horrified look in his eyes, "we saw it with our own eyes. It was freaking terrifying." "Not even Kaos or his mother are capable of that kind of power," added Trap Shadow, "this guy's on a completely different level." "As if this dude wasn't OP enough," said Ricky refreezing his icepack. "Do you think he could do the same thing to us?" asked Wordsworth. "It's possible," answered Brad, "but I speculate he would need an insane amount of power to drain the magic from a Portal Master. We are more powerful than the Skylanders after all. Uhh… No offense guys." "None taken," said Grilla Drilla and Trap Shadow at the exact same time.

Suddenly, the doors to the room opened and let in a radiance of bright light, causing Yurei to linger towards the darker side of the room. Through the doors walked in a few familiar faces, Flynn, the Chieftess, and Tessa. "Good afternoon guys," said a smiling Tessa, "glad to see you're doing better." "We've had better days," said a chuckling Grilla Drilla. "Wait," said Brad, "Tessa?! Then… That means we're in…" Mike once again reached into Brad's backpack, pulled out a roll of duct tape, and slapped it on the latter's mouth. "No fanboying today mate," said Mike. Daniel and Sue then chuckled with the former saying, "Oh yeah, I guess we should've mentioned where we were." Everyone walked out of the room in a single-file line as the smiling Chieftess said, "Welcome to Woodburrow." The Elite Masters observed their surroundings in amazement, even more so than they did at the Citadel. Miles and Mike rushed to the giant tree next to the docks, wanting to see which one of them could make it to the top faster. Ricky went to check out the trophy room. "Not bad," he said to himself, but my trophy collection is bigger." Yurei simply went to the whirlpool in the middle of the town, letting out a smile as he stared into the magical water. "Wow," said Sue with her eyes wide open, "it's even more beautiful in person." Daniel, who was walking alongside her, added, "Yes, it definitely is." Sue then smiled at her friend and sent a magic bubble flying backwards, which trapped Wordsworth and Brad, who were once again sneaking up behind the two. Sue rolled giggled, rolled her eyes, and thought to herself, "Will those two ever learn?" Mike, who was at the top of the giant tree with Miles, fired one of his arrows at the Sue's magic bubble, setting Wordsworth and Brad free. Mike then looked down at Miles, who was gloating about winning their foot race, and asked him, "Are you also experiencing déjà vu, mate?" Whiskers then swooped down out of nowhere and lifted Miles up by his dreadlocks, with Clay's bird landing on top of Whisker's head giving out a friendly tweet. Miles sighed and replied, "Why yes, yes I am."

As Tessa made her way up the tree to help Miles, another familiar face appeared before the Elite Masters and the Skylanders. It was former Skylander trainer, Cali. "It's nice to finally meet you guys," said the Mabu, "I would've been able to introduce myself back at the Citadel, but I had to fly out with Tessa to go find Flynn. As you already know, he got lost on his way back to the Citadel. Waaaaaaaay lost…" Flynn walked up to the group and replied, "Hey, it wasn't my fault, the ship's GPS was broken." "Relax Captain Flynn," said someone with a fancy accent, "my dear brother will have that GPS of yours repaired in no time." "Oh no," Brad thought to himself, "I know that voice." Down the stairs of the entrance to Woodburrow walked the village's crier, Rufus. "Who could forget Rufus," Brad thought to himself, "Mr. 'Welcome back to Woodburrow, hero of Cloudbreak Islands, what can I do for you today'?" "You must be the Elite Masters," said a smiling Rufus shaking the hands of the Elite Masters that were on the ground with him. "It's nice to meet you Rufus," said Daniel with a smile on his face. "Said no one ever," coughed Brad. "Sorry, I swallowed a bug." Rufus continued to welcome the village's guests when Daniel's eyes glowed white, and he started to walk towards the docks. "Sorry guys, he said, "I have something to need to do." Sue slipped away from the group when no one was looking and quietly followed him. Once at the docks, Daniel created a stone bridge and made his way to Woodburrow's Portal of Power. "What now?" asked Sue with a concerned look on her face. "Looks like he's going to ask Eon for some advice," said someone right behind Sue. Sue jumped in absolute shock as her heart started pounding, until she realized it was just Yurei. "I see everything remember?" he stated. "We really need to put a bell on you dude," said Sue holding her chest. Just then, Daniel's eyes stopped glowing, he rubbed one of his right eye, and he stood before the old, moldy Portal of Power. As he reached his hand out, the portal activated and before him stood the spirit of Master Eon.

"Greetings young Portal Master," said the wise old man, "how may I help you?" "I honestly don't know how I got over here," said Daniel, "one second I was listening to Rufus, next thing I know, I had the sudden urge to walk over here and talk to you. It's like my body took complete control and dragged itself over here." "That was most likely the spirit of the ancient Elite Master within you," replied Eon. "Is that why we sometimes look like a combination of the Avatar and a Super Saiyan?" asked Daniel with a raised eyebrow. "I do not know what an Avatar or a Super Saiyan is," replied Eon, "but sure, let's go with that." Eon then cleared his throat before continuing on, "Odds are that the spirits of the original Elite Masters are slowly reawakening inside each and every one of you and, in a way, they're trying to show you the ropes. To help you become the new protectors of our world." "Do you honestly think we can pull it off?" asked Daniel looking back at his friends. "Pull what off, young Daniel?" "Y'know," the young Portal Master replied. "becoming one with ourselves, saving the world, and whatnot." Master Eon took a moment to observe every single one of the teens before answering Daniel's question with, "Your team is full of potential my boy. You will win some battles, and lose others, that's just part of being a leader. However, as long as you all work together as one, you will be able to accomplish anything." Clay's bird then flew down to where the two Portal Masters were and landed on Daniel's shoulder, with Daniel smiling in response. "Yeah," said Daniel raising his head up to look at the sky, "you're absolutely right. As long as we don't give up on each other, we can do just about anything. And I'm gonna make sure this team stays united, and defends this world from evil. Together, nothing can catch us by surprise."

Immediately after Daniel said that, Mike pointed towards the direction of Mount Cloudbreak and shouted at the top of his lungs, "INCOMING!" Everyone stopped what they were doing and set their attention on where Mike was pointing, to see what appeared to be a giant fireball hurling towards their direction. "It's just a fireball from the volcano," said Rufus, "I'm pretty sure the Fire Skylanders can handle this." Brad straightened his eyes, focused the lenses to zoom in on the fireball, switched them to infrared mode, and replied, "That's no fireball." Everyone got out of the way as the large ball of fire crash landed in the town's training area, creating a thick cloud of dust that made it difficult for anyone to see. Brad, who still had his glasses infrared mode on, stated that there was something moving where the fireball landed. Before the group stood a 10-foot-tall, cybernetic creature levitating off the ground. His face was blood red and appeared to be glowing, his eyes were yellow and appeared to glow brighter than his eyes, and his head looked like the King of Spades symbol. The dust mostly cleared and everyone was else was able to get a much better view of the individual. Sue looked at the being in disgust and muttered, "Yikes, talk about nightmare fuel." Yurei stepped forward between Sue and Wordsworth saying, "This guy looks like something out of a Tim Burton movie. Sweet…" The individual towered over the group as Rufus asked, "Ummm… Can we help you with something sir?" The creature released a mysterious gas out from under him that caused everyone on ground level to start ferociously coughing. He then pulled a large, futuristic weapon out of his metallic chest before saying in a deep robotic, "Kaos would like his property back."


End file.
